Beauty and The Bash Brother
by PrincessH
Summary: -COMPLETE- Tammy Duncan returns to Minnesota for her brother Tommy's funeral after being gone 6 years. Will Old feelings between her and a certain Bash Brother resurface or has Tammy moved on. TF. Contains adlt stns & minor lang.
1. Prologe: Memories

Isn't it funny how time passes by so fast and before you know it, it's all over. My life isn't over, but sometimes it feels like it is. See my name is Tammy Duncan, sure, famous figure skater and former pee-wee hockey star with the Minnesota Miracle Mighty Ducks. That last one wasn't by choice might I add. I was forced to play hockey by my little brother, Tommy. He always had a way of making me do things that I didn't want to do and then I'd have to admit it was a good idea after all. Pee-wee hockey was no except. Although I still see the game to be an excuse for guys to hit each other, I have a new respect for the game. I can still remember that first day with the Ducks...

_Flashback_

_Whenever I stepped out onto the ice I felt like I was home. No where else could I just let go of all the crap going on in my life, my Mother's constant pushing for me to do better in school and to still have time to practice more for my upcoming competition, her constant nagging about who I made friends with, and her persistent nagging of how to live my life. Did I add that she also made me take my little brother on as a partner. I didn't need a partner, that was my first instinct, but you can't enter a pairs competition without one, so I agreed half-heartedly to skate with him. Tommy was so annoying at age 12 that I just wanted to smother his little face with a pillow while he slept. God, I hated that boy. Tommy, even though my sworn enemy, was my rock. He was always there when no one else would be and we stuck together against our Mother pretty well. Which brings me back to what I was getting at._

_That Day had been unusual in the fact that Tommy and I hadn't fought yet and we were actually getting along for once in the entire 12 years of his existence. It could have been that our coach, our Mother, wasn't there with us that day and told us to just skate around for a practice. Any time on the ice was time to improve, she used to tell us. I glided along the side of the ice, slowly humming a tune in my head when I saw the pee-wee hockey team enter the rink. It would be time to leave soon, I acknowledged in my head. I sighed; silently hoping to gett in one more spin in before stopping to find my brother. He had just been skating around me when I went into the spin and now he was gone. I swear he did this to me on purpose to make my day just a little bit more interesting. I glanced to my right and found him chatting with the coach of the said team and smiling widely, ushering for me to come over to them. I groaned inwardly, feeling the ice float beneath my blades, if he got us into one more thing, I was going to kill him with my bare hands. _

_"Tammy, Coach Bombay here said they're looking for new players for their team. You want to give it a try?" He asked, looking up at me with a smile forming on his chubby pink cheeks. I rolled my eyes a little at him before shaking my head no._

_"Well, we should be getting home..." I tried to not be rude but at the same time say no. _

_"Come on, Tammy. We've been skating all week and I wanna try hockey.." He whined, I glanced at the coach, who was amused by his behavior and gave a slight annoyed look. An adult with the same mentality of my brother, how very annoying._

_"Tommy, we really don't have time..." I reminded him of Mom's strict schedule for practices and school work._

_"Oh, practice only takes about an hour...You guys will be home before dinner..." The coach said, still smiling a wide grin. I looked at Tommy and back at him feeling a little outnumbered in my current situation,_

_"Well, we don't own any hockey gear..." I started thinking I'd finally made a valid point to get me out of this awkward encounter. The coach pulled a bag he'd been carrying from his side with a thumb on the old wooden bench,_

_"Well, let's see, I've got some extra stuff here..." He started digging through it, looking for something. I stared at Tommy with hatred. He smiled widely, the death glare I was giving him unfazed him._

_"You're dead when we get home..." I muttered more to myself than him and skated over to pick out some gear from the coach._

_END Flashback_

So, here I am today, regretting that comment, I made to my baby brother so many years ago. I always thought he'd out live me but I guess I was wrong. My vision silently moved down to the black dress that hugged my curved waist and accented my assets as I stepped out of my light blue mustang and heading into the familiar rink we always practiced at when we were younger, before everything happened. Taking a deep breathe I headed inside. The ice felt cool to my skin, as I entered the building and immediately all the memories I'd been running from for 6 years came flooding back to me in an instant. How could I forget, you ask...I choose to forget, It made it easier to go on and not look back at everything I was missing but in typical Tommy fashion, even now, he made me do something I didn't want to. I slowly made my way to the benches, overlooking the ice and watched the local pee-wee team warming up for practice. I smiled a little to myself as a tear rolled down my cheek and I glanced at the floor, where a discarded newspaper lay. It was opened to the announcements section and a picture of my little brother stood out to me.

"Local Mighty Ducks Alumi killed in Drunk Driving Crash..." My eyes swept over the words that still hadn't sunk in completely. Everything was happening so fast that my mind couldn't process it. I'd watched them lower him into the ground that morning and I didn't want to believe it was actually happening. Tommy was gone, he was never coming back and I'd been gone for 6 years only seeing him maybe twice a year on holidays...How could I miss my brother's precious life? How could I not be here when he died? Yeah, I was thinking about myself again and competing in the Olympics. It had started out not being my choice to stay away but when I turned 18 I could have came back and told my parents I didn't want the life they were forcing on me but I didn't. I stayed and I won gold in the biggest event in the world. Calling home to tell my parents that night is when they hit me the news... It had been late the night before that he was hit. The doctors weren't sure when he was brought in but as the night progressed, Tommy's life slipped away, without anyone ever calling me to come home. I should have been mad at my parents, I should have asked why they robbed me of saying goodbye to my only Brother but then they were in as much shock as I would have been. I was halfway around the world in Italy. I wasn't expecting it when I called home and my world collapsed around me once my Mother uttered those words. If it hadn't been for my partner, Scott, I think I would have had a mental breakdown right there in front of all my fans. He picked me up, literally and carried me out of there to put me on a plane back here, taking all the media attacks and interviews we were supposed to do the next week. He's the best man I've ever met, being 5 years my senior but I knew I loved him the first moment I skated with him and now I'm supposed to be his wife in 6 weeks. I stared down at the diamond on my left hand and began to cry, how could this all be happening? This was supposed to be the best time in my life, my wedding and the Olympics all in a short amount of time but instead, I sat watching my brother being buried.

Staring down at the pee-wee hockey team, I smiled to myself. Most of the Ducks were there that morning to show they're respect to my brother, all but one and I knew why he hadn't come. I'd ripped his heart out 6 years earlier and never given it back. He knew what I was competing for and how much it meant to me but still begged me to stay... with him, with the ducks, in Minnesota, anything I was willing to give him. I didn't, I couldn't and he didn't understand. He would never forgive me, but I didn't have a choice. In case you don't know who I'm talking about, I'm talking about Fulton Reed...the first boy I ever kissed...I first boy I ever loved.

Staring down at the new pee-wee hockey team the memories started to come back...


	2. Chapter 1: A Mystery to Me

Fulton Reed wasn't exactly the kind of guy you could go through all thirteen years of school not ever noticing. He was after all the biggest guy in my grade, he had been since 3rd grade. The rumors about him were constant and everything from he was some genetic experiment to he was accepted to colleges to play football or something like that. He was always the topic of conversation especially at the Ducks table at lunch. I had been sitting with Connie at lunch since the year before but now with the guys joining us, the topics of conversation varied slightly from what I would have been talking about.

"Hey, did you see Fulton Reed this morning?" Goldberg started his usual conversation of Friday mornings. Connie and I groaned from our seats at the end of the table.

"Man, here he comes.." Jesse said motioning for everyone to quiet down. I looked up in the direction of the entrance and saw him coming to walk passed out table, lunch tray in hand.

"Hey." I said cheerfully as he stopped to stare down at him with wondering eyes. He was almost waiting for me to make fun of him, or throw some insult his way but that wasn't my intention. Jesse, Guy and Goldberg looked at me like I had three heads.

"Do you want to sit with us?" I asked, moving Tommy's over in his seat next to me to move down a seat for him. I looked at the now open seat and back at him. He looked at me in contemplation for a moment before he turned to keep walking. Connie nudged me in the arm after he left.

"Tammy, he's weird.." She said, turning back to Guy as he smiled up at her and opened her bag of chips, placing them back down on the table in front of her. He looked at him slightly confused before continuing to stare at me. I didn't say anything, noticing that everyone else had now directed their attention my way.

"Jeez, Tammy, no one talks to us now, want us to become complete outcasts..." Jesse said scoffing down the remainder of his lunch. It wasn't that the Ducks were shallow or they talked about everyone, but no one seemed to understand Fulton. Most of the Ducks came from middle class families, you know, he one's just barely making it from check to check with the exception of a few. My parents were pretty well off, never having to worry about money or bills, my skating was always the first thing on their mind. Some of the other families though, were just barely getting by, I had a feeling, that was the case with Fulton's. While the other Ducks took Fulton's shyness as a bad trait, I really had no opinion, since I didn't know him or why he acted like that.

I only had one class with Fulton that year and that was science. In fact I had science with all the ducks, even Tommy since he was advanced to some 7th grade classes. That was one of the classes where we could choose our own seats. Fulton always sat behind me and sometimes I'd catch him staring at my back when I was trying o concentrate on the teacher. I wasn't a great student but I tried to keep my grades on b's to please my parents. It wasn't that hard once I put my mind to it. That particular day, I turned to get a pencil from my bag, slung over the back of my desk chair to find him staring intently at the back of my head. When I turned to face him, he quickly looked down, dropping his pencil to his paper and beginning to draw a picture in corner. I didn't bother to see what it was, just turned back in my seat and glanced at Connie with a knowing look that he was back to staring at me again.

"Ms. Duncan your partner for today will be...Mr. Reed..." The teacher said as I shook my head in acknowledgement, turning in my seat to look at him. He looked just as shocked, quickly grabbing his paper and pencil to follow me to the nearest lab table. We ended up sharing with Guy and Goldberg, who laughed at me, trying to hide their enjoyment from Fulton. I think they thought he would pound them if he caught them laughing. I collected the items we'd need for the experiment from the front counter as he looked on, quietly trying to hide in the corner of the table away from everyone else. I don't think he knew what he was doing but he tried to act like he did. Guys were always smitten with me at first glance, so I was use to that but they constantly tried to impress me so I knew when a guy was acting. Fulton was the biggest actor I'd ever met. He definitely was not the big macho guy he played in front of everyone else in our school.

"Okay so you want to read the results?" I asked, moving to stand in front of my paper and let him look at the dish. He looked at me, staring without saying anything outloud.

"Okay..." I said almost in a whisper, reading them myself. He copied them down and then looked to where I had been looking, trying to get what the experiment had been about.

"Do you get it?" I asked trying to look over his paper. He covered it quickly with his hands and I backed off in defense,

"Okay, I guess we're done then..." I said beginning to clean up the equipment. He quickly walked back to his seat writing something else down on his paper; I watched him with confusion marked on my face as I cleaned up,

"Gosh, how weird can you get?" I asked myself, finishing and sitting down next to Connie who was done with her experiment too.

"Hey Tam..." She said as I sat, slumping a little in the seat next to her.

"Connie, what do you know about that Fulton Reed?" I asked staring at him as he looked up in my direction. I turned quickly away, and looked at the ceiling for a moment until he went back to his paper.

"Nothing really, just that he lives over by the old paper factory..." Connie shrugged. Guy came up next to her,

"Connie, you want to go down the pond after school and skate around a little?" He asked. Connie smiled,

"Sure, Guy. Just meet me at my locker when the last bell rings..." She said as he walked away smiling. They were always going to be together, I thought as I turned back to Fulton. He looked up at me, meeting my eyes for the first time that day just before the bell rang.

The next few days were uneventful; school, homework, skating practice, hockey practice, games, and more homework...I had no time to do anything I wanted to do. I felt like my life was already decided for me and I was just going through the motions. That was until one day a couple of days later I walked into practice with Tommy and saw a tall kid standing with the coach off the ice. It was Fulton, I said to myself as Bombay turned to us,

"Okay guys..."

"People?.." I reminded him in a stern voice. I definitely was not a guy. He smiled,

"Right, people, we have a new player...I'd like you all to meet, Fulton Reed." He said as Fulton stayed on the bench, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"We're going to have a little bit of a different kind of practice today, see Fulton really doesn't know how to skate so we're all going to go skating..." He said opening up a box to reveal rollerblades in green and orange in all of our sizes with our names on them.

"Cool!" We all yelled digging in and taking out our pair.

An hour later we were skating through the mall of America screaming and yelling, knocking people out of our way and in Goldberg's case, stealing people's food right out of their hands. Fulton stayed back with Coach Bombay the whole time except once when he went down a flight of stairs knocking a lady over into the fountain. He didn't want to get into the mess we were creating in front of him but at least he had a clear path to learn. It was over all a great night for everyone, I had never had so much fun in my entire life.

We met in the parking lot to talk as a team before out parents came to pick us up to head home.

"Okay, Fulton, you think you're getting it?" Coach asked as Fulton looked like he was deer caught in the highlights of a semi.

"A little.." He mumbled, little to no confidence in his voice. That was the first time I'd heard him talk a full sentence. Usually it was yeah or nah or something along those lines, I thought as I changed my shoes and got up waiting for Tommy, he was slower than me sometimes.

"Okay, well, we don't have practice tomorrow so just keep skating and our first game is next week.. I'll see you all then." Coach said with a wave, walking away to get into his van with his driver. Fulton sighed, standing from the sidewalk and flinging his bag of gear over his shoulder along with his skates and beginning to walk the other direction.

"Hey!" I yelled out to him, he turned like he was in trouble, his eyes wide ad looking around. I smiled,

"Do you want a ride home?" I asked in my sweeetest voice possible. He looked at me for a minute then shook his head,

"Rather walk.." He said heading home in the opposite direction, pulling his bag more up on his shoulder as he did.

"Okay.." I mumbled low as Tommy and I walked to our mom's van and got in, we were giving Guy and Connie a ride home that night. They climbed in behind us and closed the door with a bang. My mother turned around in the driver's seat and glared at Guy, who had shut the door,

"Sorry…" He mumbled under his breathe. She seemed to clam and turned back around to pull out of the parking lot.

"Dude, coach brings in Fulton.." Guy said, the fear leaving his voice as Connie looked at him,

"Guy, we don't even know him." She tried to defend as I turned in my seat to look at them. Tommy turned too so our Mother wouldn't hear the conversation. I wasn't allowed to hang out with boys on a more personal basis than hockey.

"Guy, just give him a break...It can't feel good to have everyone treat you like dirt." I said looking at Guy with a serious face. He looked down, a bit ashamed of his actions against Fulton in the past.

"I guess not. Maybe we could invite him to sit with us tomorrow.." Guy sighed. I smiled a little bit.

"Yeah, that's a good idea.." I had to give him credit, he was think on his own for once without everyone else giving their ideas and him just following.

"What about the rest of the team." Tommy said. The backseat was quiet for a moment as we all thought about the rest of the teams reaction.

"We'll think of something.." I said turning around, a look of determination on my face.


	3. Chapter 2: Learning to Fly

The next day, Connie and I arrived at the lunch table first and sat down as Guy joined us soon after, pulling his bagged lunch from his pale green back pack. He shifted nervously around in his seat until Connie stopped what she was doing to look at him. We were hoping that Fulton would be coming through before the rest of the team got there so we could invite him to sit with us without any objections from the others. That way he'd already be sitting with us and no one could say anything when they got there, they could either sit or sit somewhere else. Not that they had anywhere else to go for lunch. I looked around and found him in the line to get lunch. He was well ahead of Goldberg and Averman so that was a good sign, I thought as Guy fidgeted in his seat again.

"What if he like kicks my butt or something?.." He asked as Connie elbowed him to shut up before someone heard him.

"What if I kick your butt?" She asked threatenly. He grabbed his ribs where she hit him and rubbed them with his hand.

"I was joking.." He whined looking for Connie's sympathy. She just groaned looking at me and rolled her eyes, acting a little annoyed. I laughed slightly at the amusing display across the table from me before noticing Fulton walking our way. I stood, blocking his way of getting past me,

"Fulton, why don't you sit with us today. You know, get to know the team better.." I said as he looked down at me, the same cold stare he usually gave me. I have to admit, he did intimidate me a little but I wasn't backing down from this challenge.

"I guess..." He muttered more to himself than anyone else sitting his tray down across from me at the table and sitting down. He looked down the table as no one was there yet and he eyes landed on Guy. Guy swallowed hard as Fulton looked at him.

"Wow, lots of protein.." Guy gulped looking at Fulton's tray. He didn't have a clue what protein was or where you get it from but he figured that Fulton must be that big because he ate a lot or so he had read in a magazine once. Fulton looked at him with a weird look, considering he had pasta on his plate and nodded absently.

"Right.." Guy said looking at Connie.

"So, Fulton, how'd you like practice last night?" I asked as he really didn't say anything and just sat, looking up every once in while to survey his surroundings. It was almost as if he was waiting for someone to tell him to move or make fun of him. The other guys started to come over a few minutes later and really didn't say anything sitting down but they looked at Guy as if, what is going on? I told them to be cool and they just started about the team we would be playing next week and how we were going to get killed. I sighed looking at Fulton again. He looked at me, finishing up his lunch and got up to leave.

"Hey, where you going?" I asked really confused as he walked passed me and threw out his tray, heading out of the cafeteria. I turned back to the team who were all looking at me,

"What?" I asked in annoyance. They went back to their conversation as I contemplated my next move to get Fulton Reed to talk to me.

I kept seeing him in school the next couple of days. I'd turn the corner and there he'd be. I went to my locker, he was at his...I started to think he was following me as the last bell rang of the school day. He didn't even stop at his locker as he exited the building, I closed my locker quickly finding Tommy,

"Tell Mom, I went to do some extra practice..." I said as I ran after Fulton. I ran out the front door of the school and didn't see him at first. Then I saw him, crossing the street and heading through the woods at a clearing. I chased after him, almost losing him a few times in the thick brush and tripping over trees and branches more times than I could remember. By the time the woods cleared, I had a run in my stockings and my hair was filled with leaves. I stood up straight trying to re-adjust my clothing from my journey before making my way towards the house. Somehow I doubted I looked good as I made my way to the door of the only house back there. I sighed deeply before knocking on the door. It was an old house with worn wooden siding and looked like it could collapse at any minute. The windows were covered with dirt so to see in was impossible. How could anyone live here? I asked myself just as I heard a little yelling and then the door swing open n front of me. A middle-aged man in a t-shirt and faded pants answered the door with a beer in his hand,

"We ain't buying anything, so if you're selling..." He burped a little mid-sentence

"I'm not, sir. I'm actually here to see Fulton?" I cut him off a little, I have to admit as he glared down at me.

"What'd he do get you knocked up?" He asked. I was a little repulsed by his comment but continued anyway. I had come this far to find Fulton.

"No, I'm a friend of his from hockey..."

"Since when are they letting girls play hockey?" He laughed taking another drink of his beer and backing up from the door.

"Well, come in, his room's in the back..." He said looking at me suggestively as I walked past him into the old faded kitchen. The lights in the house were low and there had to be an inch of dust on the floor in hall. The entire house looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. I watched the older man until he disappeared into the kitchen, probably to grab another beer from the fridge. Moving quickly down the hall, I searched for the door he had said was Fulton's door and finally found it, it was the only door closed to the dusty hall. I knocked softly before the floor groaned in response to someone moving to open the door.

"What do you want?" He yelled opening it and staring down at me. I looked up shocked written on my face,

"I guess your family like to shout when they answer doors..." I said trying to laugh a little at the tense situation.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were my Dad.. What are you following me?" He asked low stepping out of his room and moving the door closed a bit.

"Yeah..." I said shyly, not denying that I wanted to get to know him better. "I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to come to the park with me and practice your skating?" I asked.

"Oh, umm...I don't know if it's going to work out for me...you know, hockey..." He said as I peered into his room for the first time. It was pretty much empty, a bed, a night table, a desk with some school books on it and a dresser with clothes hanging out of the drawers. The skates and gear Coach Bombay bought him sat in the corner covered with a blanket.

"Well, if you don't want to do that, then we can stay here and I can help you with science?" I asked beginning to walk into his room. He quickly stopped me,

"No, we'll go down to the park.." He said grabbing his skates and bag of gear. I smiled as I lead him out of the house.

"Where you going?" His father yelled as we opened the door.

"Out!" Fulton yelled before shutting the door and walking in front of me. He looked mad.

Fulton was harder to teach than I thought he would be, I thought moving over the ice with his hands firmly locked in mine.

"Just bend your knees.." I laughed trying to stand him up straight.

"Quit laughing at me!" He yelled as I tried to control my laughter. He began to slip and grabbed my arm, pulling me down with him. We landed on the ice hard, me laying over him, and I was still laughing. He looked down at me, a mixture od annoyance and surprise on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked as I stopped laughing and sat up on the ice to look at him,

"Yeah, you're getting better..." I said brushing the ice residue off my legs before trying to stand. It was colder out here now that half my leg was hanging out from the rip in my stockings, I thought as I got up, helping him up once I was up.

"I'm sorry..." He said trying to balance himself against my petite frame.

"It's okay..." I said brushing off his jacket with one of my gloved hands. He always wore the same jacket for 4 years now...I thought as I looked up at him, his eyes staring back at me with worry I wasn't going to like him anymore. Was it possible it was the only jacket he owned? My mind cam back to the topic I had been thinking about before I looked into his eyes. He noticed me staring and looked down to make sure there was nothing on him,

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing..." I said gliding over to the bench at the side of the pond. He was slower getting there and sat down with a sigh of relief looking up at the stars. It was getting dark, I thought, but I really didn't care, this was the first thing I'd done that wasn't dictated by someone else in a long time. The evening sky was really beautiful, especially to a girl who hadn't had the time to look at it in a few years. I looked over at him with a smile playing on my lips,

"Fulton, What's the deal with your Dad?" I asked hoping he'd want to talk.

"I really don't want to get into it..." he said beginning to change out of his skates.

"I...I didn't mean to upset you..." I said trying to get him to stay just a little longer.

"Nah, I should be going anyway. It's getting late, Don't you have a curfew or something?" He asked getting up to leave.

"Hey, Fulton?" I said as he moved way. I grabbed his hand pulling his glove off, "If you need anything or you want to hang out again.. Call me..." I said writing my number on his hand before pulling the glove back on. He didn't say anything before walking away from me. He stopped and turned around,

"Hey, can I walk you home? You know it's getting dark, I wouldn't want you out by yourself..." He asked as I smiled more brightly this time,

"Yeah, I'd like that.." I said standing after changing out of my skates. He waited as I caught up.

"Where are we going?' He asked.

"Oh, I live down by Connie..." I said as we walked past all the local stores getting ready to close.

"Really, isn't that the rich neighborhood?" He asked. I laughed,

"Not really, My Dad's a doctor..." I said walking next to him. He sighed a little.

"Oh.." He said staring into the stores as we walk. I think he was trying to avoid eye contact with me. I laughed a little,

"Hey, Fulton. How come you never talked to me before?" I asked, curiosity winning out.

"Just had nothing to say.." He said quietly with a shrug.

"I would have talked to you..." I said softly, reassuring him. I thought I saw him smile but it faded as I looked at him in the moonlight.

"So you going with all of us tomorrow?" I asked. He looked at me clueless,

"What's tomorrow?" He asked.

"It's Saturday, the team usually tries to do something together. Last week we went to the movies...I think we're going to hang out at the diner and then go skating. It would be a good practice for you..." I said making it more appealing.

"Nah, I'm not really into that..." He said as we turned onto my street.

"Come on...It'll be fun..." I begged him a little, putting on my best pout face.

"Nah, I really can't..." He said leading me to my front door and stopping.

"Fulton, come on..." I whispered, leaning into him a little.

"Look, Tammy. I can't, alright." He said turning to walk away,

"Well, why not?" I asked a little depressed and confused.

"I...I can't afford it..." He said beginning to walk away again.

"Fulton!" I called as he turned. I walked out to him just beyond my gate. He was still in my walkway. "We're just gonna go for some sodas...We're not eating there...Come on, let me buy you a soda..." I said as he looked away,

"No...I don't want you paying for me..."He said not looking at me in shame.

"I'm not paying for you...I'm buying a soda to welcome a friend to the team..." I said with a smile. I looked back at me and smiled a little, the first one I saw from him.

"Okay, I guess..." He finally gave in, deep down he wanted to be included too.

"You're going to go?" I asked happy.

"Yes, I'll meet you there...What time?" He asked.

"1..." I said as he nodded.

"I'll be there.." He said before walking away, this time not turning around. I smiled widely, skipping up the walkway into the house with a light step. I opened the for to the warm house and closed it quietly, beginning to creep up the stairs.

"Where were you?" was the first question out of my mother's mouth the moment the door shut. I turned knowing I was in for it.

"The park..." I said as my Mother's face calmed.

"Skating?" she asked, I shook my head yes.

"Well, you shouldn't scare us like that.." She said touching her chest.

"I told Tommy.." I said low.

"Well, he just told us you went running off..." She said as I shook my head a little mad at my brother.

"Figures.." I said heading towards the stairs.

"Who was that, that walked you home?" My Mother asked. I stopped, turning on the bottom step, here we go...I thought in my mind.

"Fulton.." I said calmly.

"How old is he?"

"My age..." I was confused at the question.

"He looks like he's in high school.." My Mother said a little accusingly, "How do you know him?"

"Hockey...What is this the CIA?" I asked. Her face calmed again and she reached her hand out to me,

"Tammy, I just don't want a boy getting in the way of everything we've worked for...It's bad enough I have to deal with this hockey business..." She said low as Tommy walked passed me up the stairs with his headphones on.

"I know, Mom...It's not like that...I know.. No boyfriends.." I said as she smiled.

"I'm sorry, honey, about before...I just was worried about you." She said rubbing my arm.

"I'm fine.." I said heading to my room, the stairs creaking on my way.

"Okay, goodnight...Don't forget we have a 5am practice..." She called up the stairs as I shut my door.

"Yeah, I remember." I sighed flopping down on my bed and letting all the air leave me lungs.


	4. Chapter 3: A Secret Revealed

I sat in my room later that with the desk lamp shine over the work I was trying to do. I sighed, turning back to the computer game I had up on my small apple laptop, I just couldn't concentrate on school work right now. My mind was everywhere but on that. There was a knock on the door and I quickly shut the computer for fear of my Mother standing on the other side of the door. Tommy peeked his head in, smiling his bright smile that made me want to ask what he broke now.

"Tammy, phone..." He sing-songed in a teasing manner.

"Who is it?" I asked opening my computer again to continue the boring game on tetris still running. He smiled again, this time a I could tell he was hiding something.

"It's a boy..." He laughed mostly to himself before darting away with the phone.

"I guess you're busy, I'll just take it to Mom…" He laughed as I knocked over my chair to follow him.

"Come here..." I said chasing him and knocking him down in the hall for the phone.

"Punk!" I said kicking him a little before walking back into my room with the phone,

"I'm telling Dad!" He whined, pulling himself up from the carpet and shaking his head before forgetting about everything and going into his room to turn his radio on at the highest it would go.

"Hello?" I asked sitting at my desk and rubbing my eyes from being tired. It was almost 10 o'clock and I had nothing done for school tomorrow.

"Hey, it's umm... Fulton.. Is this a bad time?" He asked a bit of confusion in his voice. I laughed.

"Oh, no. He does that all the time. Even when Connie calls." I said closing my science book and yawning with a stretch before heading for my bed to lay down and talk.

"Oh, okay..." He said a slight sigh of relief that he didn't have to talk to my mother.

"So what's up?" I asked straightening out in my bed. He was quiet on the other end of the line for a few moments.

"Nothing really... I just wanted to say thanks... I've never really had anyone ever care whether or not I joined them..." He said trailing off into a whisper.

"Fulton, you're part of our team now, we take care of each other..." I reassured him. He laughed a little,

"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you in the morning?" He asked as I heard some yelling in the background.

"Bright and Early. I'll be there..." I said with another yawn, there was no way all that school work was getting done tonight.

"Okay, goodnight then.." He said hanging up quickly before I could say anything else. Pulling the phone away from my ear, I looked at it for a moment longer before clicking it off.

"Night, Fulton..." I said low.

"Tommy! Turn that music down before the neighbors call the police!" My Mother's voice came up the stairs and passed my open door. Tommy was standing at the door in a minute staring back at me. He didn't really take all the crap from my mother as I did. He would listen to her sure but when it came to her constant badgering, he just kind of tuned her out.

"Awww...Fulton and you, boyfriend and girlfriend now?" Tommy asked teasing me again.

"NO!" I yelled throwing a pillow at the door. He managed to shut it before it hit and opened it again immediately after the thud,

"Are you going to kiss him?" Tommy teased as I put a pillow over my face.

"On second thought, my sister anyone is kind of gross…" I groaned in frustration and he was still talking

"You've got 10 seconds to shut that door or I'm going to kill you!" I yelled as Tommy quickly shut the door, I could hear him outside the door singing to himself,

"Tammy and Fulton sitting in a tree.." I sighed, feeling my eye lids getting heavy from laying there. I needed to get back up and finish that school work before I could go to bed.

"What a little dork!" I said to no one but myself as I moved from the soft bed back to my hard desk chair.

The clock clicked to 4:30 and it's annoying bussing sounded out in the dead of night. I knocked it off the night table, pulling the blankets over my head with a sigh.

"Tammy!" My Mother called from the hall. Maybe if I pretended to be asleep she'd just go away. No chance in that.

"No..." I groaned as she opened the door and shook me a little.

"Time to get up..." She said leaving the door open to stream light into my darkened room from the hall. It seemed like I just went to sleep a few minutes before that, I mumbled to myself crawling out of bed and making my way to the bathroom. Tommy was coming out of his room and saw me heading for the bathroom door. He quickly cut me off and slammed the door in my face,

"Tommy!" I yelled pounding on the door. I was not awake enough for this, I thought sliding down the wall next to the door to wait for him to come out. My Mother peeked out her door, she had obviously been up for a little while, here hair wet from a shower. Her eyes scanned me with confusion.

"You okay?" She asked looking around.

"Yup, Tommy's just annoying me...Why didn't just stop with me?" I asked tiredly. He took extra long just to annoy me, brushing his teeth twice, doing his hair and just about anything he could think of to take more time in the bathroom before letting me have my turn. When he finally emerged I put him in a headlock, throwing him back in his room and closing the door with a slam.

"Stay in there, if you know what's good for you!" I yelled marching into the bathroom and slamming the door. I was older, shouldn't there be some sort of bathroom rights?

The arena was pretty packed with pairs trying for the title at the junior skating open. I yawned again sitting down on the bench to take my skates out. My mother looked down as me a look of disappointment marking her aged face.

"Hey, Barbie..." One of the other girls said as I glanced up from my bag on the floor. "You're going down at the competition.." She said with a laugh. My Mother was walking around to sit,

"Okay, just brush it off...Tommy, you ready?" She asked as he collapsed on the bench next to me,

"I'm out of bed... I'm dressed... and you're asking for more? How much do you expect, it's barely 5 am." He asked. My Mother looked at him with disapproval and sighed,

"Well, let's get out there..." She said ushering us on the ice once our skates were laced.

1 o'clock rolled around fast as I walked with Tommy down the street to the local diner where Charlie's Mom worked. We walked in to find everyone in the corner booth and they waved us over. Fulton sat away from everyone else on the one side, so I walked towards him,

"Can I sit there?" I asked motioning to the space between him and Jesse. He shrugged,

"Sure." He said getting up to let me in the booth and then sitting back down after I was settled. I smiled at him as Connie looked over at us, who then nudged Guy, who told Averman and so on and soon the whole team was talking about me and Fulton. I just ignored them as we talked,

"So what are you going to order?" I asked him looking over the drinks on the menu.

"Probably just a coke..." He said plainly.

"Mr. Reed you can't come to a diner and not get a chocolate milkshake..." I laughed as the waitress came over to take orders. She got to Fulton and I and I answered before he could,

"A chocolate milkshake and A diet coke.." I said as she wrote it down and walked away. Fulton looked at me,

"Oh, come on.. You tell me I have to have one and then you don't order one?" He asked as I bumped shoulders with him, a grin on my face.

"I can't...I'm on a diet.." He laughed a little and I smiled back at him.

"For what?" He asked looking at me.

"Figure skating..." I said resting my arm on his shoulder.

"You're crazy.. You already stick thin.." He said. I laughed a little as we joined into the conversation the rest of the team was having... He was finally feeling a little like he fit in, I thought smiling away.

That night, Tommy and I walked home as Fulton trailed behind us, making sure we got home, he commented when I noticed him following us. I smiled a little, he was so cool, the team was taking to him, and he was getting better at his skating too. We stopped at my front door, Tommy ran it right away, leaving the door open for me. I turned to Fulton,

"Well, Thank you for walking me home again..." I said as we looked at each other. His eyes were so beautiful. My mind wondered, his face turning up into a smile.

"That was the most fun I've had in while..." He laughed again. His laugh was so sweet, I wanted to hear it more.

"I'm glad. So I'll see you Monday?" I asked poking him in the chest playfully. He shook his head, yes.

"Yup, back to the prison.." He said of school. I laughed again at his interpretation,

"Yeah, we have practice Monday afternoon too..." I said as he shook his head knowingly.

"Yup, well, I'll see you there.." He said turning to walk away.

"Goodnight, Fulton..." I called as he waved, walking into the dark night. I sighed with content, walking up my steps and into my house, closing the door with a click.

I tried to go to bed early that night but it wasn't happening. The pitter-patter of the rain on the roof as it started outside held my attention. I sighed listening to the ping-pong on the window and wondered where Fulton was right now. Was he thinking about me or fast asleep in his bed. I really wanted to get to know him better but he just seemed like he didn't want me to know anything about him. It bothered me that there was something that Fulton didn't want to tell me about his Father. I laid there thinking about it for a few more moments before I felt sleep begin to take over. I was almost asleep when I heard a soft knocking on my window. It must be a branch I thought as I rolled over but the shadow forming on my bedroom floor was no tree. I quickly grabbed my robe pulling it on over my soft night dress and walking to the window with my history textbook in hand. As I got closer I pulled back the curtain and found Fulton perched on my front roof. I dropped the book quickly with a thud, opening the window fast.

"Fulton, what are you doing here?" I asked as he climbed in the window.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I thought..." He started, "I'll just go..." He said going to climb back out the window.

"No, just talk to me.. Tell me what happened." I said sitting him on my bed as I sat next to him. His clothes were soaked through from the rain.

"It's my Dad..." He seemed upset but was not crying.

"What about him?" I asked touching his shoulder.

"He...we just get into these fights and he, he drinks so much..." Fulton started until I moved my hand, touching his back. He nearly jumped off the bed. I stood up next to him and slowly touched his shirt, bringing it up to look at his back. There was a large bruise forming on his shoulder.

"Did he do this?" I asked as Fulton shook his head yes,

"I'm so sorry..." I said trying not to cry.

"You get use to it..." He said turning away, "Anyways, I was going to ask if I could barrow your floor for the night since it's raining and all, otherwise I'd be sleeping out in the woods..." He said, "but it's cool if that's not alright for you..." He said heading for the open window. I felt my pulse begin to rise.

"Fulton, of course it's okay.. I can't let you sleep out in the rain.." I said a little shocked he would suggest that I would be that mean. I grabbed his arm, bring him away from the window and shutting it. I headed to the closet to get a blanket and some pillows and laid them out on the floor in a bed like fashion before standing to look at him.

"Thanks..." He said as best he could in the situation. I smiled before sterned my face to ask him a question that played on my lips.

"Does he do this a lot?" I asked trying not to offend him. He didn't look at me, his eyes hiding his embarrassment.

"Every night.." Fulton said taking off his jacket and laying it over my desk chair. He laid down on his side facing away from me to stare at the wall. I wanted to cry for him but he wasn't crying so I didn't want to make him feel bad.

"Are you okay? do you want the bed? I'll sleep on the floor." I said still standing at his feet.

"No, this is your room, you take the bed.. I'm fine on the floor..." He said hugging the soft pillow I had give him to his chest. I climbed back into the bed, looking down at him with watchful eyes. He rolled over to look up at me. I laid down with my head overlooking where he lay with his eyes closed. Reaching my hand over the side of the bed, I took his hand in mine.

"I so sorry.." I started, trying to control the tears I felt coming on my eyelids.

"Can we just not talk about it.." Fulton asked as I nodded, still feeling the tears brimming. I pushed them back down and laced my fingers with his.

"Goodnight, Fulton..." I said finally laying down but not falling asleep.

"Goodnight, Tammy..." he said holding my hand to his chest as tight as he could.


	5. Chapter 4: Too Much Drama

I woke up the next morning to the ringing of the phone in my ear. The room was silent and my arm had fallen asleep from hanging off the side of the bed the majority of the night. I peered over the edge of the bed, expecting to find Fulton, awoken by the intrusive sound. The floor sat empty. He was gone...I said sitting up and looking around, a frantic feeling rising in my chest. Had I dreamt the whole thing? I asked myself, shaking my head to remember the night before. But the blankets were on the floor, folded neatly, yes, he had been here. The window sat open, letting the early morning sun rise peer into my window, I wasn't crazy. The phone sitting on my night stand continued to ring, the sound bring my thoughts back to the moment at hand. I quickly picked it up before it woke anyone else.

"Hello?"

"Tammy?" His voice was on the other end and sounded low.

"Fulton, where are you? I woke up and you were gone." I asked confused, placing my hand on my chest to slow my frantic breathing.

"I didn't want to get you in trouble...You know having a boy sleeping in your room.." He said still talking low, was he hiding that he was calling me.

"Fulton, are you okay?" I asked, worry marking my voice.

"Yeah, just meet me at the pond in an hour?" He asked, almost pleading with me to trust him and find away to get there.

"Okay..." I said getting up from the bed in such a hurry I almost fell over my sheets to get to the closet.

"See you soon..." He said before hanging up. I hung up, tossing the phone back on my night stand and running for the bathroom before Tommy woke up, it was, after all, our day off from practice. He would probably sleep until noon.

Fulton sat on the bench next to the ice, silently staring away from the few children that skated around the pond in the early morning air. I walked up to him nervously, wrapping my fingers together against my chest. He stood, seeing me approached him out of the corner of his eye.

"Fulton.." I said a bit breezing, hugging him. He just held me close as we stood there for a long time, searching for comfort in the other that there was something in this world to hang on to. Everything had went from normal to completely screwed up the night before. My life, once laid out and set, had been thrown into turmoil.

"I didn't know how mornings worked in your house so I just bolted before anything happened or anyone woke up." he said sitting down with me. I searched his eyes for answers, instead finding so much pain.

"Does it hurt?" I asked cautiously, "Getting hit like that?" I motioned with my hand to his back. He shrugged.

"Sometimes, other times I don't even feel it anymore. I'm numb to the pain..." He said rubbing his shoulder a little with his gloved hand.

"I'm sorry..." I said trying not to cry, I couldn't imagine one of my parents misusing my trust in such a way.

"It's not your fault...If he didn't drink so much..." Fulton started before stopping. "He can be a great guy sometimes, but lately he's just been getting worse.. My Mom's been working all the time and he's been laid off, so he has nothing better to do than drink." He said as I looked on.

"Fulton, anyone of us are here for you...I'm here for you... You can tell me anything, I'm here for you..." I said as he looked down. He didn't look at me, just took my hand in his and we sat there for a long moment just staring at the froze lake.

"Ever since he lost his job, hell for as long as I can remember my Mom and Dad have been fighting...it started out small...you know yelling and arguing...then one night, I broke one of the dishes helping to dry them and he just flipped out, hitting me until I couldn't move. Mom tried to get into it and he beat up her too. She was out of work for a week recovering." He said staring straight ahead. I bit my lip to keep from crying,

"Since that night it seems like he wants to take his anger out on us, I try to defend my mom but sometimes I can't, it just hurts too much.." He said trying to distance himself from everything including the pain that he had been holding inside.

"I started running after the first time, sleeping in the woods or wherever I can find a place to sleep, when he'd get angry and hit my Mom.." He said as I gripped his hand with both my hands now.

"Fulton, doesn't anybody know?" I asked, his eyes filled with worry.

"No...I can't tell anybody..." He said looking down again.

"But.." I started but he looked at me and I couldn't finish it.

"Promise me you won't tell anybody...I can't leave my Mom alone with him..." He said as my eyes filled, letting a few tears down my cheeks. His eyes were so pleading, so desperate to keep his secret. Fulton wiped my tears with his thumb, holding my face in his palm.

"Please, Tammy?" He asked. I felt like I was letting myself down but I shook my head in agreement,

"I won't tell anybody..." I promised.

It was raining again outside on Monday morning as Tommy and I walked to school. The rain beat hard on my small umbrella as Tommy hurried to keep up and share the umbrella. My thoughts were everywhere but on the long walk. I thought of Fulton and looked up at the sky with hazing eyes...It was going to be raining for a while, the clouds were predicting it.

"Can you wait up?" Tommy asked, stretching to keep up with his short legs. I slowed in realization and continued my heavy thoughts, moving to place the umbrella over my little brother's red head of hair.

"Sorry, Tommy.." I mumbled as he looked up at me in disbelief that I actually apologized to him.

I sat in science with my back to Fulton later that day but I knew he was staring at me. I smiled a little stealing a glace at him every now and then. He'd smile knowingly back before returning his attention to the teacher. He was actually trying to learn something. Connie noticed and smiled at me, puckering her lips and kissing the air. Guy thought it was for him and smiled widely, as if he'd just scored the winning goal of the state finals. I laughed looking back down at my school books for composure.

At lunch Fulton came and sat with the team, sitting next to me at the end of the table. The team was all talking about the game that night, completely unfazed by our new guest.

"I can't believe they moved our game from tomorrow to today..." Goldberg sighed.

"I know we're not ready..." Guy chimed in

"The cardinals are the second seated team..." Jesse said as Banks, McGill and Lawson from the Hawks came up, standing at the end of the table.

"Hey, Girls..." They said smiling widely after spotting me and Connie sitting at the other end,

"Oh, " Was McGill's first reaction, moving towards us, "Looks like Connie finally learned the purpose of make-up..." They laughed as Guy was going to say something. Connie stopped him with a hand to the chest to reassure him she had this one.

"Gee, McGill, did you finally learn what Clearasil is for...looks like most of your zits are gone.." Connie said as we all laughed. McGill mocked her before looking at me,

"You must be new..." He said leaning over at me. I tried to ignore him, not knowing what to say.

"He's talking to you.." Lawson said when I didn't look up. Before I could say anything, Fulton was standing up.

"I don't think she's interested..." He said as he stared down at them. Seeing as Fulton had messed them up before, They backed down and began to move away fast. The team looked at him and started wooping and laughing.

"Yeah, Fulton!" Jesse said high-fifing him. Goldberg was laughing and Charlie came over to sit next to him. Fulton smiled at the new popularity and started a conversation of Charlie. The rest of the day I saw him in the corner of my eye, somewhere near, making sure McGill wasn't bothering.

Warm-ups came and went fast as Coach asked us all to hang around for him to talk to us. We gathered in the conference room of the arena and waited. When I walked in Fulton was in the back next to Charlie, they were still talking about something. I walked quickly to find a seat next to him, but they were taken, so he got up and let me have his seat, standing next to me against the wall. Coach came in and threw us his pitch in a sense for the new Ducks Team logo. Everyone dissed it before Fulton and Charlie agreed to be Ducks, like usual everyone started to join in after that. Before I knew it, it was game time and we were facing the Cardinals. I sat on the bench looking at my nails after running some passing drills with Connie and Guy. Fulton came out of the locker room, skating much better than before. I smiled as he sat down next to me,

"So you ready?" He asked questioning me about the game.

"Yeah, you?" I asked.

"I think so..." he said looking at the other team.

"Fulton, you ready?" Coach Bombay asked,

"I think so..." He said.

"Let's try a few practice shots..." He said as Fulton joined him on the ice. I'd never actually seen this shot that everyone was talking about but I looked on from the bench with enthusiasm. He began to shoot putting all his anger into his shots, one even broke the glass as the rest of the team looking on. I smiled from under my helmet as everyone was in shock, The other team looked scared out of their minds to be facing his guy. The game went fast and we tied the other team with Fulton's pretend shot that turned into Guy's. We all went to the diner to eat after. Fulton actually had a good time, laughing and joking with everyone. He even let me buy him a burger.

I was still laughing as Fulton walked me home that night, his bag flung over his shoulder,

"That was so cool though, we might be able to still make the playoffs..." I said as he smiled.

"Yeah, that would be cool..." He smiled as we reached my front door.

"So you coming over tonight?" I asked as he looked down to the ground.

"Maybe, I'm gonna try to stay home tonight but I might..." He said low.

"Well, I'll leave my window open a bit..." I smiled waving goodnight to him and walking in the house.

I glanced at my clock as he climbed in the window, it was 1:30 am. He pulled the blankets out of the closet and laid down in complete silence. I never asked him anymore what happened, I just leaned over taking his hand as we fell back asleep, he'd finally got my Mom's schedule down and was out at 4:15 every morning before my practice...Sometimes, he'd even follow us and watch from behind my Mother.

The next game was on Friday, as I suited up, Fulton looking at me from his locker. He had chosen the one next to mine.

"What's the deal with the monster..." Tommy asked sitting next to me.

"Shut up..." I said continuing to change. I always wore one of my skating body suit underneath my uniform so I didn't have to change completely with the guys there, after all I was a girl. Connie picked up the idea from me after having to change in the shower stall too many times. Jesse and Peter came sulking in and sat not getting ready,

"Must be a guy thing..." I said as I grabbed my gear and putting it on. Coach Bombay came in a few minutes after that,

"Okay team, everybody ready..." He said as we sat to listen to him.

"Why aren't you guys dressed?" He asked Peter, Jesse and Terry, "Warm ups in a half an hour...I got some good news, we're getting another player, Adam Banks.."

"What!" Everybody started to yell.

"We're gonna need him if we make the play-off..."

"If, what now you think we're not good enough?" Karp asked.

"No, he thinks we're a bunch of losers..." Peter said getting up and walking out. Everyone became quiet as Terry and Jesse walked out as well,

"Look, I'm going up to the bench cause that's where I'm supposed to be, anyone that wants to join me can join me anyone that doesn't well..." He said walking out. I looked at Fulton as the door shut.

"Come on guys, he didn't mean it like that!" Charlie said getting into an argument with Connie and Guy.

"Come on, we're one win away from the play-offs!" Fulton said standing up.

"Guys, we can do this." Charlie added as Connie and Guy started packing their bags to go home. Tommy followed as did Karp and Goldberg. I looked up at Fulton,

"I'm sorry.." I said grabbing my bag to pack it too. Charlie and Fulton stormed out of the locker room, heading for the bench. I looked at Connie,

"Maybe we should give him another chance..." I said looking to see if Fulton had come back.

"No way. We don't need a coach like him..."She said stuffing things into her bag.

"What about all he's done for us, I mean the gear, the practices... Everything..." I said sitting down.

"It was all just a show!" Connie said slamming her locker and grabbing her bag to leave. Pretty soon Tommy and I were the only one's left. I sighed,

"I hope he doesn't hate me." I whispered getting up to follow Tommy out.


	6. Chapter 5: Growing Attraction

Fulton and Charlie grew closer over the next few days as we continued to grow apart. The nights were cold, leaving the window open in the dead of winter but I kept thinking he'd show up one night and not be able to get in. He avoided me, and the rest of the team, like the plague but Charlie he was with almost every minute. The green feeling that resided in the pit of my stomach every time I saw them laughing and joking like teenage boys in the hall, grew with each passing day that he didn't speak to me. I knew how much I really missed him as I saw him walking up ahead of me at Thursday. He stopped to talk to Charlie and I passed by, avoiding his eyes as they grazed my blonde hair in passing. He glanced at me, not saying anything but his eyes showed he had something to say just couldn't form it into a sentence. I bit my lip, continuing down the hall as if I hadn't seen him. It was easier to pretend than to deal with the fact that Fulton and I weren't speaking anymore. Hell, we couldn't even look at each other anymore. That night I sat up waiting to see if he'd come over, he didn't as the last night of the week began to dawn. I wondered where he was and if he was okay. Where did he go at night since he didn't come to my house anymore? To the place he went before me? I looked at the window as the rain poured in the crack I'd left open, just in case. Before I knew it the tears were coming faster than the rain and I cried myself to sleep, resting my head on my soaked pillow.

I woke the next morning and my eyes felt like they had been glued shut; I blink twice before stumbling out of bed for practice that morning.

"Tammy, What's wrong with you?" My Mother yelled from the bench as I got up from falling for the 3rd time that practice. It all truthfulness, I would have preferred to stay on the ice. A cold relief to my aching mind and body.

"The competition is in a month and you're falling all over the ice!" She yelled as I felt like I wanted to cry, skating back into formation with Tommy.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, Tommy skating up to me to my right side,

"Hey, what's wrong, Tammy?" He asked, actually sounding like he cared.

"Nothing." I said pushing off on my skate with a heavy sigh. I went to do a triple Lutz, the move that landed me on the ice in the first place and fell, hitting the barricade hard. I cried out, holding my shoulder with my opposite hand, struggling to get up. My Mother looked at me with her nostrils flaring. She finally looked down with heavy sigh She was right, I was letting Fulton distract me...

"I'm sorry." I said looking down and sucking it up before gliding back on the ice.

I didn't see Fulton until Science that day, he sat behind me, putting Jesse in between us so I couldn't turn to look at him or try to talk to him. He'd deliberately sat in Jesse's seat to cause Jesse to move in between us. He kept his head down as the class was going on until a fight broke out while the teacher was out of the room. Karp had made a comment about Charlie's Mom to which he had attacked him, getting Connie to get up to referee then Guy got in it when Peter pushed her. Soon all the Ducks were fighting. I jumped in when Jesse and Fulton started fighting. I pushed my way in-between the two guys, pressing a hand to each of their chests

"Cut it out Jesse!" I said, pushing him a little more forceful than Fulton.

"What? You got to defend your boyfriend, we all know there's something going on between you two." Jesse accused, Fulton pushing me out of the way in retribution.

"Shut up Jesse!" He said getting in his face.

"Stop it!" I yelled as the principle came back in, yelling for us all to sit. We sat quickly as laughter broke out. The feeling that things were about to get back to normal after everyone had it out. Charlie stood, a grin perched on his flushed face. Karp and Jesse met eyes and I turned to look at Fulton. He smiled at me as the Ducks started quacking at the stuck up principle in protest.

Well, that landed us all in detention where everyone started talking again but Fulton was still staying away from me. His eyes scanned the room to meet mine for a moment before I turned to continue writing my lines on the board. My Mom was going to have a field day with this one. I could almost bet Tommy and I wouldn't see the light of day until spring. The creak of the old door of the classroom signaled someone had entered and I turned in surprise as Coach came in, standing in the entrance to the room. To make a long story short, he got us out of detention for a quick practice so we could play in the game the next night, after a lengthy talk to get the team to trust him again. I was dead by the time I got home that night. I collapsed on my bed and fell right asleep, not bothering to listen to my Mother as she ranted in the hall about the principle wanting to see her the next day about her children. She continued on until I could no longer focus on her and instead a dreamless sleep.

I woke up at three am and rolled out of bed to change out of the clothes I'd been in all day. I was dark as the lights from the street lamps shined in my window and I walked around my bed and to the closet, grabbing my nightgown and beginning to change. I heard a slight groan from behind me and pushed the article of clothes to my chest, turning quickly to look for the source of such a groan. Fulton lay sleeping on the floor as I backed up against the old oak of my closet door. His breathe was even and calm, letting me relax with reassurance he was sound asleep.

"When did he come in?" I asked myself quickly putting on my nightclothes and getting back under the covers, pulling them to my chin in embarrassment. I moved to look over the edge of the bed and saw his sleeping face distorted from a dream he was having. My heart raced with anxiety and fear, reaching out to take his hand in mine. His eyes fluttered open at the sudden movement and his grip tightened around my fingers,

"Hey." I said softly.

"Hi, I couldn't wake you, you looked so peaceful..." He said as I smiled.

"When did you get here?" I asked looking at the clock.

"About an hour ago?" He said groggy.

"Oh...are you still mad at me?" I asked.

"No...I wasn't really. I was afraid you didn't want to talk to me anymore, the way you avoided me." He said taking my hand that I'd extended.

"No." I said smiling at the misunderstanding.

"So are we okay?" Fulton asked as I smiled.

"Of course." I said laying back to look at the ceiling. I heard him laugh a little before turning over to get comfortable on the floor. We fell back asleep quickly after that.

The next few day, we were inseparable again, doing everything together from practice to homework. The first game back that night was the best one yet, we won and it was Fulton who made the shot to send us to the playoffs. Fulton and I celebrated by getting a chocolate shake at the diner later that night. He made me have some, breaking my diet but I didn't care, he was talking to me again and nothing could ruin my night. He walked me home feeling like he'd accomplished something, a huge grin on his face. I laughed at him, seeing his smile forming on his lips as we walked down the cold dark street. All the shops were beginning to close, it must have been close to 10 and it was beginning to snow again as Christmas was just a few days away. We stopped in front of a clothing store and I admired a red dress I liked in the window,

"Red's my favorite color." I commented, touching the glass. Fulton looked at a leather jacket they had hanging in the window and sighed,

"Yeah, I'll have to remember that." He said. I caught him looking at the jacket.

"That sorta looks like the one Guy has." I commented as he began to walk ahead.

"Yeah." He said not really saying much more about it.

"But it had that fur like stuff on the collar and it's a tinted brown." I started, looking at him, "Do you like it?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, but I can't afford that and I doubt my parents are doing any Christmas shopping this year." He laughed a little. We reached my house,

"Fulton? Why don't you come over here for Christmas?" I asked. He smiled,

"Nah, I should spend sometime with my Mom" He said, I nodded

"At least come over sometime." I said smiling. He smiled back at me nervously,

"Okay." He said as I nudged his shoulder. I punched him playfully in the shoulder as he grabbed me, picking me up and pretending to throw me down in the snow bank outside my house. I pulled him with me as we toppled into the pile of soft snow. The laughter was uncontrollable and we chuckled, his eyes meeting mine. The soft brown orbs were sparkling from all the laughter and I thought he was going to kiss me but he quickly stood, letting the cold return to my previously covered body. I felt a little disappointed but brushed it off with the snow as he helped me up, running his hand along my shoulder to rid me of the snow.

"So, you coming over?" I asked walking to the door.

"Yeah. I'll be here." He said with a smile.

"You coming over tonight?"

"Probably." He said dreading going home at all.

"Why do you go home every night when you know you're just going to end up here later?" I asked.

"Because he's my Father and I have to give him the chance to be a Father. Part of me wants to believe he can change." He said as I looked up at him. I gave him a hug before quickly walking into my house, out of the snow. I watched from the front window as he walked into the white blizzard that was raging outside before disappearing into the nearby forest.

The coach called us all the next day, telling us to meet him at the park with our gear.

"An extra practice." I groaned as Fulton was sitting at my desk with his bag at his feet.

"We do need it." He commented as I did my hair and put on my red and black baseball cap, straightening it in the mirror.

"I'm just tired." I said grabbing my bag from the closet and tossing it on my bed. My Mother stopped in my open door way,

"We're leaving in 5 minutes you two." She said heading down the stairs in a rushed pace, taking another look back at us. Fulton looked at me as he was flipping through my notebook on the desk, looking for something to read. He found a sketch of the house that I wanted when I was grown up. I had never told anyone but I had so many ideas for houses. I worked them out in my head just sitting around and I loved math. I think that was what I really wanted to do. I wanted to design houses. I wanted to design places to live. I had been working on at particular sketch for a few days now, just a dream I guess. I would never get to go to school for anything other than skating if my Mother had her way. I quickly saw him looking and jumped up on the desk, shutting the notebook.

"What?" He asked clueless.

"I don't want you to see that." I said smiling.

"Why?"

"Because I'll laugh at me." I said moving to fix my hair.

"No I won't." He said quickly.

"It's nothing...It's just the house I dreamt of having one day. I dream of a lot of different things." I muttered to myself as Fulton looked at it again.

"It's beautiful." He said as I quickly picked up my bags heading down the stairs.

"Yeah, well it will never exist because I don't have time to learn how to build it." I said with a sigh. Fulton took the picture, folding it and putting it in his pocket then followed Tommy down the stairs. When we arrived at the park we found a bus waiting to take us somewhere, no one had any idea where. We all loaded in, Fulton and I sitting together across from Connie and Guy. The ride wasn't long but everyone started yelling and hooting when they saw where we were. We were at the North Stars arena.


	7. Chapter 6: Just Friends

We entered the arena looking around in awe at the largeness of the place and were shocked at the fact that Coach Bombay knew two of the star hockey players. He had brought us there as a celebration for making the playoffs. I looked at Fulton, sitting on the bench as we changed our shoes into skates,

"This is so cool." I cooed with excitement. He smiled like a kid on Christmas morning.

"I've never been here before. I've never been anywhere before." He said looking around. I smiled, taking his hand to pull him out on the ice. Everyone was skating around, just enjoying the free time. Guy and Connie were holding hands, big surprise, I thought skating around Fulton as some of the other guys were messing around. I was practicing my routine for the competition, it was supposed to be on the day after the Championships were to be held. I wasn't ready yet with the set backs of last week and my Mother was relentless in her pursuit of a gold medal. Every once in a while Fulton would interrupt me pulling me one way or the other and we would start messing around, sliding into other people and knocking them over. We took out Connie and Guy three times. They were not happy with us by the end of the day.

We went to the North Stars game that night as Banks and Fulton started talking and Jesse didn't want to sit next to Banks, so he ended up in between Fulton and I but I was just glad to see Fulton was having a good time considering he'd only been to the pee-wee hockey games where it was free to get in. We came home that night on a high and were laughing throughout the walk home.

"Why don't you just come in now?" I asked as we stood on my front steps.

"Tammy…"

"Fulton come on, for once, spare yourself." I said taking his hand. He smiled a little and walked with me into the house, unafraid of if anyone would see us. Tommy had ran to his room already and it looked like the parentals were asleep so we snuck up the stairs and closed my door quiet. We laughed a little as Tommy was in his room singing to New Kids On The Block.

"He's such a dork." I said having no excuse for my brother at this very moment. Fulton laughed too, a little from embarrassment, a little with happiness to feel accepted.

"Sometimes, I wish I had a brother or a sister." He said setting up his blankets on the floor.

"Tammy?" My Mom called from the hall. I moved Fulton towards the closet,

"Yeah, Mom?" I asked, waiting to see the door handle move.

"Just checking to make sure you got home." She said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I said as she walked away, I could hear the floor boards creak as she moved.

"That was close." I laughed looking at Fulton. He looked down at me and leaned in, going to kiss me.

"Tammy?" Tommy called from the hall. I sighed with frustration and turned my face into a grimace,

"What now, punk?" I yelled opening the door a crack to see him standing there in his PJ's with the feet on them. I laughed at the sight,

"Look, they still fit, I'm going to wear them." He said walking away with the butt flap up.

"I think you got a air hole." I called after him with a laugh. If Fulton had seen that I would have been embarrassed. I shut my door and saw Fulton already on the floor before turning to the closet to get a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in.

"I'm going to go change." I said as the tension in the room could be cut with a knife. I exited the room, going to the bathroom to change and found myself thinking about him. 'He was sleeping on my floor and I think he almost kissed me there.' I said to myself as I exited the bathroom walking past Tommy's room, he was still singing and dancing on his bed in his PJ's. The door sat open and I quietly shut it, letting a small smile play on my lips. Opening the door to my room, I found Fulton already asleep. I turned the light off and settled into bed, remembering the way he had looked at me.

The next few days were a blur as I practiced for 5 hours each day, both hockey and skating and then had to do homework, the only time that was my own was when I went to sleep at night and Fulton was there. He was becoming my best friend, next to Connie of course, who was my best friend...He was different though, I could tell him different things than I told Connie and we spent as much time together as we could, he'd even taken to coming with me and Tommy to practice figure skating in the morning. He'd sit and watch as we skated, smiling at me as I passed him. My Mother found this annoying and one morning voiced her opinion,

"Tammy, the competition's on the ice, not in the stands." She moaned with annoyance.

"Sorry." I mumbled still smiling at Fulton. My Mother had to admit, my skating wasn't suffering, and it was actually better when he was there.

"You looked really good out there today." He commented as we walked to the park later that night. It was snowing up at the sculptures in the park, I had wanted to see them, so Fulton offered to walk with me. It wasn't a date, I had told Connie earlier in the day when she teased me. At least that's what I told myself. We saw Coach Bombay and Ms. Conway there and waved politely, continuing our walk, stopping in front of some lit up sculptures.

"Fulton, everything is so beautiful." I said taking his hand. He smiled at me and led me to the next display, never letting go of my hand that night. It was Christmas Eve and approaching ten pm by the time we made it to my front door that night. I smiled,

"So you're going to be over tomorrow sometime?" I asked letting go of his hand for the first time that night.

"Yeah, I'll be here." He said as I leaned in and hugged him close. "Thank you for taking me tonight. I needed to relax." I said kissing his cheek. My cheeks reddened and I waited with nervous anticipation as to what his reaction would be. His lips turned up into a smile and I smiled too.

"Merry Christmas, Fulton." I said, turning to enter my house.

"Merry Christmas, Tammy." He mumbled, walking away into the cold night air.

I woke up the next morning at 6 am and Fulton was laid out on my floor, as usual.

"It's Christmas!" I said getting up and almost tripping over Fulton in the process. He rolled over groggy,

"What's going on?" He asked. I jumped on him,

"It's Christmas."

"So what?" He asked putting the pillow over his head.

"Fulton, get up!" I said jumping up and down on his butt.

"Stop it!" He yelled, slowly moving to look at me; I smiled down at him,

"Please, Fulton?" I asked. He groaned,

"Fine." He said, grabbing his flannel shirt and putting his shoes on to seem like he just got there and we opened my door to look out, no one was up yet so we were safe. We snuck down the stairs and he put his coat and shoes over by the door, coming in to sit with me in the living room. I grabbed a box from under the tree.

"Fulton, this is from me." I said handing him the box. He smiled taking it and opening it quickly. It was the leather coat that he had wanted,

"I hope you still like it, I saved my allowance for it." I said as he looked at it in shock. Fulton just looked at it and back at me.

"Tammy...I don't know what to say." He said in complete shock.

"Say, Thank you. Put it on." I said helping him try it on.

"Thank you, Tammy." He said staring at me. He put his hands on my cheeks and smiled at me leaning in to kiss me before I heard my parents waking up.

"I better go." He said smiling and walking to the door. "I better leave this...don't want my Dad to see it." He said still smiling. I took the jacket, hugging it to my chest as he opened the door, leaving quickly. My Mother walked down the stairs behind me,

"Was someone here?" She asked yawning.

"No, I just found Fulton left his jacket here last night when he dropped me off." I said holding the jacket.

"Oh." She said heading for the kitchen to make breakfast. I quickly got rid of the wrapping paper and placed the jacket in my room before helping my Mother in the kitchen.

I sat down at my desk to get a start on my holiday assignments later that night, feeling the jacket against my back. I grinned, wrapping it around me and taking it the scent Fulton had left on it. I smiled returning to my work. After that was all done, I settled into bed to wait for Fulton. He emerged at my window a few minutes later with a red rose in hand. I smiled as he climbed in my window handing it to me.

"I'm sorry, it's not much." He said handing me the rose. I smiled,

"You remembered my favorite color." I said leaning up and kissing him on the cheek, "Thank you." I said laying the flower on my desk. He smiled at me,

"You're my best friend." He smiled back. In a way, I felt a little sad to hear him say that.


	8. Chapter 7: Sealed with A Kiss

Once we got back from Christmas Vacation the play-offs started that same week, piling everything on my already stressed mind. I must say, I was anything but prepared for the week ahead. We made it to the finals that weekend, having a game on Monday, one on Wednesday and the finals on Saturday, so between practice, skating, homework and school I had zero time to myself to do anything. It just made my life harder with the competition that weekend too. My figure skating championship was that Sunday so I was doubly nervous and stressed out at the same time for both. Fulton sat next to me on the bench that night at the game, occasionally taking my hand as we watched the game play out in front of us. I smiled; he was the only one that seemed to keep my mind in perspective of what had to be done. With everything else in my life going crazy, he kept me on task.

"This is so cool." I had just leaned over to say when Adam, our star player, got knocked out by one of the Hawks. Fulton was immediately out of his seat and telling the coach he'd take care of them. Wouldn't you know Fulton had waned to kick their butt since the beginning of the season.

"No, we're better than that!" He said, "It's time to play smart hockey, Duck hockey." He said sternly before sending Fulton out on the ice. I watched as he skated around the ice for a few seconds before getting the puck and nailing the goalie, knocking him into the net with the puck. I guess he had to get his frustrations out in some way. My mouth hung open for a minute before I started to scream with excitement. I was still screaming as he skated back over, hugging Coach Bombay before grabbing me, practically picked me up out of the box and onto the ice. I laughed out of joy before the coach called us to come in for another play.

"Alright, they're not going to let us get another shot in that easy again." He said, looking at Tommy and me. For a minute I thought he was going to start yelling at us and I was fully prepared to blame Tommy.

"Tammy, Tommy, let's show them something different." He murmured, mapping out a plan to score a goal. Fulton gave me a look of concern before I skated out unto the ice,

"Be careful." He said before I smiled at him,

"I'll be fine." I reassured him still smiling as I skated away. I moved in front of the net before Tommy could get the puck. I did a spin to get the other players attention as Tommy got the puck, my mind raced as to if this would work or not but my concentration was broke when Tommy yelled out.

"Now!" His voice sounded in my ear as I stopped, getting the puck and shooting it in. The team screamed as the buzzer sounded and we tied up with them. Everyone was going crazy and I even hugged Tommy before the rest of the team on the ice. Fulton cheering from the stands and I started to make my way back. The ice moved gently beneath my skates and I remembered just how much I loved the ice. I spun around happily, going to Fulton when McGill came out of nowhere, knocking me off my feet to the hard surface below. I slammed the ice in frustration, trying to stand. Before I could get up, Fulton was at the other bench, throwing McGill over the railing and picking a fight with the whole team. Connie was at my side leading me back to the bench as Fulton got thrown out.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Where's Fulton?" My voice filled with worry.

"He got thrown out, he'll go to the locker room." She told me as my ankle twinged in pain.

"I think I twisted it." I said rubbing at my leg to keep my mind off the feeling that was shooting through my ankle.

"Just rest." She told me going back out on the ice to finish the game.

We won the game, of course, that's how we became the Miracle Mighty Ducks and everyone started talking about us. Fulton came running back out on the ice after the game ended and hugged me and the rest of the team. We looked at each other for an intense moment. The team was shouting and Guy and Connie were kissing just a few feet away from us, we went to lean in, our eyes connecting. Our lips were centimeters apart when the rest of the team started to turn for the committee to bring the trophy over. I turned quickly with them, leaving Fulton confused at the situation. Fulton sighed deeply, pretending not to care. I bit my lower lip nervously as a chant broke out and we all started yelling, "Ducks." Connie had grabbed my hand after the chant died down, to head to the locker room for our stuff to get ready for the dance.

"I can't believe he kissed me." Connie gloated, beaming from ear to ear as we grabbed our stuff quickly, moving through the arena to my Mom's van. I laughed, catching a sideward glance of Fulton as we passed the rest of the team.

"Wow." I said still distracted and not knowing really what to say. I suddenly was regretting not kissing Fulton.

The celebration dance for peewee hockey was that night. We went back to my house to get ready. Connie took over my room so I showering quickly and dressing in my favorite red dress in the bathroom don the hall. When I returned, Connie was sitting at my mirror applying make-up to her already painted face.

"Wow." She said smiling at the sight of me. I looked down embarrassed at my choice of dress.

"What, did I over do it?" I asked smoothing the dress to my stomach.

"No, Fulton's going to faint." She laughed. I playfully slapped her arm and sat down on my bed to put on my shoes. I thought about what she said and smiled,

"Cons..." I asked as she looked over at me from the mirror, "Do you really think so?" I asked as she began to smile.

"Yeah, you ready to tell me what's going on with you two, since you've both been so secretive?" She was still smiling. I blushed, standing to get used to my shoes while I mulled over her question.

"Connie, I wasn't keeping anything from you... I still don't know what's going on with us." That was the truth, I told myself, picking out some jewelry.

"Have you kissed him?" She asked; a hint of mischief in her voice.

"No." I said a little embarrassed. "Look who's talking! You didn't kiss Guy until tonight." I said trying to cover up my embarrassment. Connie just sighed.

"Yes, I did." she said turning back to the mirror to put more make-up on. I laughed a little.

"Connie, what should I do?... I think I really like him." I said sitting again.

"Just tell him, let him decide what to do." Connie said finishing up her make-up and standing to smooth out her baby-blue dress. "You never know until you ask.." She reminded me, moving to leave the room as I followed, switching off the light. Tommy was waiting for us in the hall as we made our way down the stairs.

"Come on, Tammy, the dance is going to be over before we get there.'" He commented with distain. We ran out the front door, Mom close behind us to drive. The dance started at 7:30 and it was a quarter past 8 already, so we were late but Connie blamed it on wanting to make an entrance.

"10 o'clock right?" Mom asked as she dropped us off. "Yep." I said shutting the door and running for the school where we were having the dance. I had fully intended on being early to talk to Fulton before the dance started but that wasn't going to happen now, I thought entering the school. The lights were dimmed for the strobe lights to work against the dark atmosphere. Tommy ran off as usual as I scanned the room for the guy I was looking for. I saw Connie being dragged onto the dance floor by Guy, not a surprise. Charlie was telling his championship story to some girls by the snack table and there he was, standing in the corner by himself. He hadn't changed from his earlier clothes, probably not going home in-between at all. He was wearing the jacket I had brought him. I smiled widely walking towards him on shaky legs. What was I going to say to him? 'Thanks, that was cool, why'd you do it?' I thought getting closer to him with every step I took. My leg shook a little with nervousness. He finally saw me coming and stood up a little straighter. I thought I saw him smile as he looked at me and my heart fluttered in my chest with anticipation.

"Fulton...I..." I started but was drowned out by the music.

"I can't hear you..." He stepping closer and turning his ear to me.

"Fulton...I...do you want to dance?" I asked as he stepped back to look at me. He smiled a little and took my hand as a new song started.

_Every time our eyes meet, this feeling inside me is almost more than I can take_

_And baby when you touch me, I can feel how much you love me_

_And it just blows me away._

_I've never been this close to anyone or anything_

_I can hear your thoughts; I can see your dreams_

_I don't know how you do what you do, _

_I'm so in love with you, it just keeps getting better._

_I wanna spend the rest of my life_

_With you by my side_

_Forever and ever_

_Every little thing that you do, _

_Baby, I'm amazed by you  
_

I was losing my nerve to tell him how I was feeling. I looked up at him as the song played in my ears. We'd spent so much time together, how could he say no, how could he say anything but yes... I looked up at his eyes again. His soul showed through them and showed me how much he cared about me. His eyes had always spoke for him and I hoped mine were telling him the same thing.

"You look beautiful tonight." He said smiling and pulling me closer to him, making our bodies connect at every possible point.

"Why did you help me tonight?" I asked, getting my nerve back up. Okay, so the question didn't come out the exact way I had intended but I could still feel the shake in my voice as I spoke.

"Because I don't like to see you hurt." He said holding my hand to his chest.

"I'm fine though. He just shoved me." I sounded stronger than I was feeling.

"I know, I'm just never going to let anyone hurt you." I felt that familiar flutter in my chest again.

"Fulton, I feel like we've been growing so close lately... I don't want to lose our friendship." I said, as the music got loud again.

"Why would you lose our friendship?" He asked, confusion marked on his face.

"Tammy, I'm sorry if I've been, you know, bothering you by coming over every night. I just wanted to see you." He said looking down at me. I smiled.

"No, Fulton, I wanted to see you too. I'd rather you were with me than at your house. That's not what I meant...I just want to protect you from all that." I said reaching up to touch his face.

"That's all I was trying to do tonight." He said rubbing my back with his thumb.

"You always make me feel safe." I said looking into his eyes.

"You're the first person to tell me that." He said smiling. I rubbed his cheek lightly.

"Fulton, I like having you around. I can't imagine you not being there." I said nervously.

He smiled without saying anything and knew what to do next. I felt his breathe on my cheek as he leaned down and before I knew it, he lips were on mine. It was an awkward kiss at first but once I realized what was going on, I met his lips and pressed mine to his in a more passionate embrace. He smiled against my lips as my arms went around his neck.

_Everything little thing at you do, I'm so in love with you_

_It just keeps getting better..._

_I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side._

_Forever and Ever_

_Every little thing that you do._

_Every little thing that you do_

_Baby I'm amazed by you_

We parted and looked at each other smiling like idiots as the last notes played of the song. My first real kiss, I thought to myself as he touched my face with his rough hand.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while." He admitted, a goofy grin still playing on his lips.

"I think I'm in love with you, Fulton Reed..." I said hoping he wouldn't freak out. Instead he smiled.

"I think I am in love with you too..." He said leaning in to kiss me again. That kiss wasn't nearly as awkward as the first.

LATER THAT NIGHT

I sat up in my bed waiting for Fulton to come to my window that night. He had promised he would. The clock on my night table read, 1:34 am but I wasn't sleeping until he got there, I had decided. I got up walking to the window to look out, hoping I'd catch sight of him climbing the tree out front. It was a dark night and I really couldn't see anything as I squinted to look. Then I saw him, standing in my front yard looking up at my window. I looked down at him and his face was expressionless. Worry crossed my face and I quickly grabbed my robe, running out of my room quietly and opened the front door. I ran out to him, down the front steps, almost slipping as my bare feet hit the wet gravel. It was raining hard and he just stood there, not running to meet me or anything. I reached him and grabbed his shoulders. He winced at me, so I let go quickly,

"Fulton...what happened?" I asked looking up at him with worried eyes.

"My Father...He saw the jacket you bought me. I was so happy we...I forgot to leave it with you." He started as I lead him in out of the rain. He groaned with pain as I lead him up the stairs to my room and helped him out of his jacket, grabbing a towel to dry him off a little. He pulled at his shirt as I unbuttoned it and slowly pulled it off, seeing the bruises that were forming on his back...I'd seen the work of his Father before but never this bad, I thought as he laid down on my bed on his stomach, facing away from me. I didn't know what to do, so I crawled in next to him. It started small but I heard a little hiccup of pain and then I realized he was crying. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and held him as he let it all out; I closed my eyes making sure he knew I was there, with a kiss on the shoulder. I began to cry for him too as his crying stopped. He had cried himself to sleep. I held onto him for a few minutes before turning the light off behind us as not to wake him and snuggled to him, holding him as I fell asleep too.


	9. Chapter 8: Star Gazing

My alarm went off at nine am the next morning to wake me up for my hair appointment before the skating championship. I jumped a little as Fulton groaned next to me, his face looking as if he was enjoying a dream. I sighed with an small amount of contempt, pushing the stray hairs from my face and hitting the alarm before it woke Fulton up. Laying back down on my back; I looked at the ceiling for a minute to let my heart stop jumping before I glance over at his sleeping form again. I didn't want this night to end, I wanted to hold him for the rest of my life. The bruises on his back were lighter than the night before but they were still there, I moved my finger along the darkened skin in an effort to erase the pain. He was laying on his stomach next to me, his face looking in my direction. I leaned over wishing I could take his pain away as he began to stir.

"Hey." He said with a sigh, pushing the hair away from his face.

"Hey," I smiled, trying to make him feel better. "How are you feeling?" I asked a hint of concern still left in my voice.

"Not that good." He said trying to roll on his side to face me with some difficulty. His face changed to a painful expression as he finally made it to his side, staring at me intently.

"Fulton, I think we should tell someone what's going on." I scooted down to lay next to him again.

"Tammy, I can't." He seemed annoyed that I was again suggesting it.

"Why? Fulton...I don't want to see you hurt anymore." Tears welled up in my soft blue eyes before his face softened.

"What if they take me away? I don't want to be away from you." He touched my face with is thumb to rub away a stray tear that had fallen down my cheek.

"Fulton, why can't you just live with one of the Ducks?"

"The only ones besides you that really talk to me are Charlie and Banks and I wouldn't feel right asking them. Your parents aren't going to let me stay here, considering us…." He reminded me, still touching my face. I shook my head in understanding but continuing to feel the tears pool in my eyes.

"We'll figure something out." He said, leaning in to kiss me. I put my hand on the back of his head, pulling him closer as my tears were beginning to subside. We ended the kiss and a groan came from the floorboard, signaling my parents were getting up. He rolled off the bed, landing on the floor with a thump as my Mother opened the door.

"Tammy, you awake? Your hair appointment is in a half an hour." She asked as I hid my face from her so she wouldn't see I'd been crying. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'm up...I'll be ready in a minute." I nodded. My Mother went to close the door before noticing Fulton's shirt on the floor,

"Whose is this?" She asked picking it up like it was a bug.

"Oh, you know, I think it's Fulton's. He must have left it here the other night when we were doing Chemistry homework. It's getting pretty hot out, spring is definitely here." I said fast, hoping she wouldn't question it.

"Oh. Well, get dressed. We're leaving." She said sitting it on the chair and leaving my room, slightly confused. The door shut with a click and Fulton sat up.

"That was too close, I got go." He said getting up and grabbing his shirt.

"Fulton..." I said turning him around at the window. "Are you coming to my competition this afternoon?" I asked.

"I don't know..." He said looking confused on what he was going to do this afternoon.

"Fulton, please. I need you to be there." I said as he nodded at me slightly.

"Okay." He said going out the window. He turned to kiss me quickly before heading down the tree with a little trouble.

The hairdresser's chair was uncomfortable as I groaned, shifting uncomfortably, my Mother looked at me, a hint of contempt written on her face.

"Stop fidgeting." She told me giving me a mean look. My face tightened, feeling my ankle ache from the night before. Tommy was seated in the chair next to me, getting his haircut.

"I saw you last night!" He finally said as our Mother walked away to look at the hair care products.

"So what?" I asked trying to act like nothing was going on.

"I saw you kiss Fulton..." He said sticking his tongue out at me.

"So..." I said looking at a magazine that was sitting on my lap.

"So, I'm going to tell Mom." He said smiling an evil grin.

"What do you want, punk?" I asked suddenly annoyed that I was being blackmailed into something again by my baby brother.

"After tonight, no more skating for me. No more of these frilly little costumes." He said, pointing to the suit he was now wearing.

"Mom's not going to go for that." My eyes looked back at our mother as she spoke with a woman at the counter about one of the shampoos.

"Well, you better make her." He said still grinning evilly. I sighed.

"I'll think of something." I said glancing through the magazine, flipping the pages feverously.

Dressed in my costume for that night, my skates sat on the steps behind me, as I stood in the front walkway to my house. He was nowhere in sight. I hopped from one foot to the other to keep warm in my stockings in the cold winter air. Tommy came out behind me looking disgusted with his costume. It had lace and frill everywhere and I couldn't help but laugh a little at how ridiculous he looked.

"I mean it... last time." He groaned getting in the van quickly so no one in the neighborhood would see him. I tossed my skates in the van beside him before standing on the sidewalk again to look for Fulton.

"Come on, Fulton." I thought jumping back and forth still. My Mother came up next to me,

"It's time to leave." She said looking down at her watch, I glanced again.

"Mom, just 5 more minutes...he'll be here." I said as she shut the back door on the van.

"Tammy, we can't wait. We're running late already. We don't have time to wait for your little friend." She said ushering me to the van. I opened the passenger's side door and climbed in. Tommy sat in the back with his headphones on, ignoring us as usual. I looked back again to make sure he wasn't coming and tears were brimming on my eyelids. We began to back up when I finally saw him, heading down our street, running to catch us.

"Fulton!" I cried out, jumping from the van,

"Tammy..." My Mother started as he made it to the van. If she could have, she would have grown horns.

"Sorry..." He started as I ran up to him,

"I was looking for you." I said. He smiled as he hugged me, almost kissing me but thinking better of it with my Mother looking at us from the open van door.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your competition?"

"Yeah, but I was waiting for you." I said. He smiled,

"I don't want you to miss this."

"Well, you should have been on time then." I smiled.

"I had other things going on."

"Well, let's go." I said pulling him towards the van. He got in next to Tommy and closed the door quickly.

At the competition I met so many people I couldn't remember any names, Fulton stayed by my side until I had to go out on the ice. I felt Fulton watch me as I delivered the best performance of my life up until then, skating to Mozart. I came off the ice and was immediately surrounded by so many people Fulton disappeared in the crowd.

"Fulton!" I called as the people were handing me business cards and all sorts of things, roses, teddy bears...everything I could think of. I finally made it to the scoring booth and Tommy and I watched as we got 9 out of 10's. I smiled brightly as I finally spotted Fulton and he walked over, hugging me.

"That was beautiful." He said as we parted. I touched his cheek as my Mother came over ushering me to talk to a coach that was there from the Junior Goodwill Games.

We made it home that night on a sugar high, since we stopped to get ice cream from the local shop. Mom parked the van and Fulton and I got out. It was beginning to snow again.

"God, Fulton, that was so awesome!" I said jumping into his arms.

"You looked so good out there." He said smiling at me as best he could,

"Do you want to go down to the pond and skate with me?" I asked getting my skates from the van.

"Oh, Tammy...I should be getting home." He said.

"Fulton…please?" I asked.

"Okay...I left my skates at Charlie's. I'll meet you there in 10 minutes." He said.

"Okay." I agreed kissing him on the cheek and running into the house to change into my sweatpants and a t-shirt.

I met him down at the pond and we just enjoyed each other's company, before the evidence of last night came up as I went to hug him. I bit my lip,

"I'm sorry." I said as he sat down, holding his back. He didn't say anything. I knelt down in front of him, taking his hand,

"Fulton, I think we should talk to somebody... I mean we can go talk to coach Bombay he doesn't leave till Friday for that minor leagues thing." I said, as he shook his head, no.

"Fulton!" I said angrily getting up and stomping off on the ice. Fulton sighed and got up to chase me. He grabbed me by the hand as I tried to skate away from him; he pulled me back to him, kissing me, to shut me up. He always knew how to make me forget what I was arguing about.

The spring was coming fast as the snow was beginning to melt. I got a new coach who was working me to death but Fulton and I spent every waking minute together and my Mother was starting to notice since the competition.

"Tammy?" She asked one warm spring night as I grabbed my roller skates and putting them on.

"Yes?" I asked stopping at the front door, my hand gripping the handle.

"Where are you going?"

"Just going down to town, they're doing this moonlight on the lake thing to kick off summer. Fulton and I were going to go, remember? I asked you and Dad and he said alright as long as it wasn't too late." I said holding the door handle tighter in my grip. She looked back at the costume she was sewing for me.

"Well, remember you have an early practice with Coach Blizzar." She said as I nodded,

"I know, I won't be long." I said heading out the door.

Fulton wasn't at our usual meeting place so I decided to take the route to his house to see if I could meet him on his way. I skated along the path and ducked as it cleared, revealing his house. The front lights were on and his light was on, so I skated to his window to see if he was in his room.

"Fulton?" I whispered. There was no answer.

"Fulton?" I said a little louder and still no answer, so I took off my roller blades, laying them on the ground and hopped up in his window, looking for him. He wasn't in his room as I climbed in and looked around. It was then, I heard the arguing from the kitchen.

"Get up!" His father was screaming as I heard his mother crying. My heart stopped as I reached the slightly opened door and peeked out. Fulton was huddled on the floor as his father was standing over him. His mother was crying to his father but I couldn't make out what was being said.

"Shut up, woman!" He yelled, pushing her into a bookcase behind them. She fell to the floor as Fulton got up, attacking his father. He knocked him back down and I couldn't take it anymore. I was going to explode with rage.

"Stop it!" I yelled, running to Fulton on the floor. His father looked confused.

"Where in the hell did you come from?" He asked, taking a drink of his beer. I touched Fulton's face.

"Fulton?" I asked, seeing his eye was bruised and his lip busted.

"Well, little lady, you picked the wrong house." His father said as he crushed the beer can and advanced on me. What did I get myself into? I thought, ducking into the crawlspace behind the refrigerator.

"Please..." I started crying as he grabbed my hair.

"Aren't you a pretty thing...Fulton you don't deserve this..." He said laughing a little before turning back to me, "She ain't too smart though." He said as Fulton attacked him, letting me go. His mother was stirring and managed to get a hold on his father as Fulton grabbed me up in his arms, running out the front door.

"What were you thinking?" He screamed at me once we got outside. It was the first time he'd been angry with me.

"I'm...I don't know, you were hurt..." I cried as I felt the tears in my eyes. "I'm sorry." I said beginning to cry. Fulton stopped yelling and grabbed me into his arms.

"You shouldn't have had to see that." He said holding me close.

"If you have to see it, then I'm going to see it." I said as he leaned down, kissing me. He winced as his busted lip stung.

"I'm sorry.." I said as he placed his hand on my cheek again.

"Let's get out of here.." He said.

"I left my skates in the bushes." I said pointing. Just then his father came storming out the front door.

"Fulton...you get back here!" He yelled coming for us. Fulton grabbed me as we ran into the woods. We ran for a long time before we stopped as it cleared into a large grass area by the lake. I stopped.

"Where are we?" I asked. Fulton sat down by the lake as I followed, sitting next to him.

"This is the old Brown property." He said as I looked around.

"Someone owns this?" I asked.

"Well, no one lives on the land, a house was never built." He said taking my hand. "I come down here sometimes...when I can't be with you. Just to think and sometimes sleep...I want to build your house here." He said as I smiled.

"So you're the one that took it? I think I want to be an architect when I get out of school." I smiled, kissing him. He held my head, kissing me back before we parted. We sat by the lake as I began to clean his lip up. I looked at him and smiled,

"What?" I asked.

"Tammy, Would you want to spend the rest of your life with me? I'm not the neatest person or the richest but…" He didn't finish the sentence as I kissed him again.

"That sounds great." I said smiling. He kissed me again as we laid back on the grass.

"Fulton?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Will you talk to Bombay, please?" I asked, not looking up at the sky instead of at him. He sighed,

"Yeah...I'll call Charlie tomorrow and find out where he is." He said as I snuggled into his embrace.

"Good." I said sighing. "I love you." I said softly.

"I love you too." He said holding me tighter. We fell asleep on the edge of the lake that night.


	10. Chapter 9: An Unexpected Reunion

I woke up the next morning, feeling Fulton's arms still wrapped tightly around my waist from behind. I turned, slightly, looking at him from over my shoulder. He was awake already, looking down at me as I slept.

"Hey." I said smiling a little but closing my eyes to the bright morning sunlight shining down on us.

"Hey." He said leaning forward to kiss me softly on the cheek.

"Oh, god, is it morning?" I asked, suddenly realizing we'd spend the whole night at the lake without me even calling home to make up an excuse. I was so dead meat when I got home

"Yeah." He said sitting up as I shot up from the grass.

"I got to go." I said looking around, "My skates are at your house." Realization crossing my face as I tried to fix my hair now.

"Come on." He said taking my hand to help me up.

We ran back to his house as fast as we could go, collecting my skates. I kissed Fulton quickly before I skated to my house as fast as I could. I was hoping it was still early enough for no one to notice. As I skated up the street, there was a police car in my driveway and I knew I was going to be in big trouble.

I opened the front door, sliding in and slowly sitting to take off my skates. My Mother came out of the living room, a look of panic on her face until she saw me sitting there. Relief was the first emotion until she realized I was safe and a look of anger spread to her cheeks.

"Tammy!" She said grabbing my arm in a tight grip before backing off and looking at me,

"Where have you been?" She asked, "Was it that Fulton kid? Did he talk you into something? Did he pressure you into something." She asked as I sighed.

"No, we just fell asleep. Nothing happened."

"Fell asleep? Where, what were you doing?" She asked. I sighed again,

"Nothing...we were talking and we fell asleep." I said as my Father was letting the police officers out the front door and thanking him for his time.

"Young lady, you are grounded for the rest of the month! No, the rest of the summer!" My Mother yelled as I looked at Dad, he agreed with her, a slight nod of the head and I stomped up the stairs to my room,

"I didn't do anything." I said slamming my door with a bang. Tommy opened it ten seconds later.

"Oh...you're in trouble!" He mocked as I went to grab him by his stringy red hair but he shut the door too fast for me. There was a knock on my window a few seconds later and I turned running to let Fulton in.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worry sounding in his voice.

"No, I'm grounded for the next 3 weeks, if not longer." I said hugging him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble." He said

"No, I guess it could be worse, but that means no hanging out with you or the team." I said sitting down on my perfectly made bed. Fulton knelt in front of me on the floor.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault...it will be okay. I'll just sneak in your window." He laughed a little, touching his hand to my face. I laughed too.

"I really liked sleeping in your arms last night." I admitted as he hugged me to him n a tight embrace.

"I liked having you in my arms." He said as I leaned in to kiss him.

"Tammy? Can you come down here please?" My Mother's voice asked from the bottom of the stairs. I sighed.

"I'll see you later." I promised as Fulton nodded. He kissed me again, lightly on the lips before he headed out the window.

"Yeah." I said heading down the stairs to see my coach sitting at the table in the dining room, his hand folded gently resting on the wooden top.

"Coach, what are you doing here?" I asked sitting down.

"Tammy, we have some news for you." My Mother started as my coach smiled.

"Honey, I know you want to make something of your skating and with last night...your Father and I feel it's necessary to take Coach Blizzar's offer to let you train at his compound." My Mother said as I looked at her shocked.

"What? I'm not going." I said getting up to leave the room.

"This is your chance at the Olympics." My Mother stressed. I stopped in the doorway, turning back to her.

"You're sending me away." I practically yelled, turning around.

"Tammy, it's for your own good." She said touching my shoulder in a tender fashion, trying to remain cool at the situation. "You didn't want to play hockey anyway. Everything's a distraction here." She said as I shook her hand off of me.

"You mean Fulton is a distraction." I corrected, feeling on the verge of tears.

"Well, he's the biggest one." My Mother said honestly.

"I'm not going." I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest. I looked back and forth between the occupants of the room.

"The decision's already been made." My Mother finally vocalized sternly. A look of defeat crossed my face and I turned and left the room in a huff. Running up the stairs, I slammed my door before falling unto my bed and crying into my pillow. I sucked up the tears and snuck down the stairs to leave after a few minutes. My Mother was talking to the coach still in the dining room as he showed her pictures of the training compound. I grabbed my skates and headed out the door before she even realized I had gone.

I made my way down to the park where everyone was that afternoon. They stood inside the wire fence, playing a game of street hockey. Fulton saw me and skated up to me, a smile playing on his lips in the bright sunlight.

"Hey, Tammy, Coach Bombay is back...guess what!...We're going to the Junior Goodwill Games!" He yelled picking me up off the ground in his arms. I smiled and laughed, enjoying the feeling of his arms wrapped around me. The thought that this could be the last time I ever felt this crossed my mind and I pulled away as I slide down the front of him to the ground.

"Fulton, we need to talk." My eyes told him something was wrong as I said the sentence before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the alley.

We made it to the alleyway by Hans' shop and stopped, Fulton sitting on a box.

"What's going on?" He asked as I poured everything out of my mind. He sat there looking at me as I rambled on.

"Well, don't go." He finally said touching my face and bringing me down to his lap.

"Fulton, they're not giving me a choice." I said turning away, feeling the tears start to blur my vision.

"Is this because of last night?" He asked, standing and turning me to him chest.

"Kind of." I admitted, burying my face in his shoulder.

"This is all my fault." He rested his head on mine.

"No, it's not...it's mine." I gripped his waist with my arms.

"What about us?" He asked. I looked up, seeing his eyes tear up.

"I'll write you." I couldn't hold my emotions anymore and began to cry.

"That's not the same." He said taking my hand before I pulled away. "Come with us." He asked. "Run away with me. We'll go to California. We'll find a way to be together." He said, taking my face in his hands. I shook my head in defeat.

"I can't, that will just get us in more trouble. As much as I wish we could." I said, "Fulton, I need you to be okay with this." I said touching his cheek.

"What am I going to do with you? How am I supposed to be okay with this?" He asked.

"Just live." I said, "Fulton, promise me something." I pleaded, searching his eyes.

"Anything."

"Don't wait for me." I said with tears brimming on my eyes again.

"No." He whispered, turning to turn away from me.

"Fulton, I don't know how this is going to work and I don't want to come back here 10 years later and find you married and have my heart break."

"I wouldn't do that!" He cut me off, turning back towards me with a scold on his face.

"I know. Just please go on and be happy. Don't wait for me." I asked, trying to reach for him.

"What about all the dreams, what about our house?" He asked. This was only the second time I'd ever seen him cry.

"Fulton, please." I whispered. He kissed me, silencing me for a minute and then looked into my eyes, hoping he could convince me to stay.

"Tammy, I am always going to love you." He said before getting up to skate away.

"Fulton!" I cried as he skated away, not turning around. That was the last time I saw Fulton Reed. My parents pulled up seconds later to drag me back to the house to pack. I left later that day, feeling like my heart had been cracked wide open.

California was not what I expected, it was dry and hot and there was nothing to do but train, so that's what I did. I was ranked the best in my class but my heart wasn't in it. The coach knew this, so he decided to pair me with someone to move me along in artistic ability. That's when I met Scott; his class was the oldest class at the compound and the best class with experience. He was always so nice to me and so I found myself trusting him, telling him about Fulton and how I was afraid to write because he was mad at me. He helped me put my emotions into the skating and we excelled being chosen to go to the nationals finally after years of training.

That was a year and a half ago. My eyes darted from the floor down at the hockey team skating on the ice. I ran over the memories in my head one more time before moving nervously from the seat I had been occupied. I wiped my eyes with my gloved hand before standing to exit the arena. My head hurt from the unshed tears that consumed my thoughts and clouded my mind creating a fog of confusion. I was almost to the door when I ran into someone, falling on my butt to the hard gravel floor. I looked up and my eyes widened as Fulton Reed looked down at me, his dark hair falling into his widened eyes. His face was aged and all the pain from the years showed but it was him. The same boy I fell in love with so many years before.

"I'm...I'm sorry." I said as he looked down at me stunned.

"Tammy?" He asked helping me up.

"Yeah, I really am sorry, it was my fault." I said, trying to move towards the door at a fast pace.

"Tammy, when did you get back?" He asked, looking at me, still shocked I was standing in front of him. His hand gripped mine in a tight embrace, unwilling to let me go out the door.

"A few days ago." I said dropping the paper with the article of Tommy in it from under my arm. He glanced down at it before picking it up to glance over the article.

"Oh, yeah...Tommy's...was this morning?" Fulton asked, nervousness in his eyes.

"Yeah...It was a mistake coming here." I said turning again to leave before he could reach out for me again.

"I'm really sorry I wasn't there." He yelled out after me. I stopped in my pace to listen to his voice as it resonated in my ear. I had missed his voice to much to hear it again, made me want to stay just to hear him speak "He was a great kid." I turned around,

"Thanks, Fulton." I could see his eyes soften as his name rolled off my lips.

"How long are you staying?" He asked, shifting his stance.

"A few days...a few weeks...I'm not sure yet." I said honestly, I could never lie to him. He could see right through me.

"Well, if you need someone to talk to..." He started as my eyes teared up again. He reached out for me as I threw myself into his arms, smelling his familiar scent and feeling his strong embrace. It made me feel protected, I hadn't felt that in a long time as I let go of the emotions I was holding in all morning.

"Fulton, how am I supposed to live without him?" I cried into his jacket.

"I'm so sorry, Tammy." He said holding me as tight as he could. I cried for what seemed like forever before lifting my head and staring into Fulton's eyes.

"I missed you Tammy." He admitted. I backing up; letting go of him and stood back a little bit to look up at the man in front of me.

"I'm...I didn't mean to..."I started as Fulton shook his head in understanding,

"It's alright." He said brushing it off, "You're entitled." He looked out at the ice, a look of concern on his cheek.

"Am I keeping you?" I asked noticing his distraction.

"Oh, no, not really, I coach the pee-wee team now." He said as I smiled a little.

"I never imagined you doing that." I said,

"Yeah, well, life's lead me in a different direction than I thought it would...I saw you won a gold medal." He commented.

"Yeah, I did...Fulton, I'm really sorry...about everything...you know, us..." I said as his eyes suddenly changed. They darkened with thought.

"It was 6 years ago, I've moved on." He said as I nodded. I didn't believe him but it made me feel better about our situation.

"Well, I am."

"Look, I got to go...the other coach is having trouble controlling the kids." He motioned as I looked out the window at a tall muscular man, trying to control ten kids jumping around him for the puck. I smiled, not really able to laugh or I would start crying again.

"I understand." I said as he grabbed his clipboard from the windowsill, where he had left it.

"Tammy, like I said. Just call me if you need to talk." He said heading through the door.

"Hey, Portman!" I heard him yell as he ran down the aisle and unto the ice. I stood there watching for a minute before taking a deep breathe and walking out of the arena, back to my car. I got in and managed to shut the door before crying all over again.


	11. Chapter 10: Can't Let Go

The sunlight shone in through my open window covering, I rolled away, seeking the darkness that my pillow was providing in a effort to get just a few more minutes sleep. Maybe it was by habit but I had subconsciously left my window open a crack the night before, hoping a little rashly that Fulton would be climbing up the front roof and into my heart all over again. I hadn't done it purposely but being back in this room, I immediately had gone to the window and opened it up just an inch as if I was 13 years old again. My mind was at peace for the first time a many days before it was suddenly jolted back to reality and I realized what I had to do today. There would be hundreds if not more people crowding into my house today for what was supposed to be a small gathering to remember Tommy. My Mother had not been up to doing it after the funeral the day before so it was to be that afternoon instead. I groaned thinking of the all the people that would want to shake my hand and express their fake sympathy that was only offered because of who I was. I hated people in general, they were always so fake.

Like I said before, I might seem like a bitch or something to that line but really I'm just in self-pity and I was the only one left at the party. My parents were trying to support each other and Tommy was gone. The feeling of complete solitude was like a blanket of darkness invading my mind the more I thought about it. I sat up, trying to push the hair from my make-up stained face. I hadn't bothered to try to prepare for sleep last night, as I knew it wasn't coming. Tommy would sleep forever, lucky him, while the rest of us had to go on and try to figure out where we were supposed to be going. When in reality, in the end we would all follow him into that eternal sleep anyways, so what was the point. Maybe it was selfish of me but I suddenly wished it were me and not him; it would be so much easier.

My feet grazed the floor before moving me towards the dresser and I glared into the mirror, my blue eyes stared back at me with lifelessness. There was no sparkle, no hope of what tomorrow might hold for me, nothing worth even really mentioning, just dull not even pretty blue orbs. Suddenly feeling sort of sick, I sat down in my desk chair and stared at the wall, absently. My alarm clock going off startled me from the party I had spoke of earlier, dancing in my head.

"Good Morning, Minneapolis! This is Dan Stevens with WKKB for the twin cities waking up with a weather brief, it will be 85 and sunny as we can all see looking out our windows, so why am I really reading this." He said seeming like he didn't have a care in the world. I silently wished I were a character out of the Harry Potter book that everyone was talking about and could wipe my mind clear of all thoughts. I sighed, hitting the clock as I heard my parents stirring from their room just down the hall. I silently waited , knowing my Mother would be at my door within a few seconds,

"Tammy?" She asked as I looked up at her once she made it to my door.

"I'm up." I said matter-of-factly, not really showing any emotion. She didn't really react; I think she was too tired too. Her eyes were lifeless and her face worn from tears that she couldn't shed. I wanted to cry all over again for her but I had no more tears left.

"Okay." Was all she said before exiting my room and shutting the door. I let out a whimper before, collapsing at the foot of my bed in a crying mess. How was I supposed to handle this? Even I, Miss. Tammy Duncan, did not know.

The afternoon crept up on me, as I spent most of the morning in the upstairs bathroom, applying make-up and staring into the mirror before I'd realize what I had to do that afternoon and then cry for which I'd have to re-do the make-up I'd applied. After the third time of doing this, I decided it wasn't going to happen and abandoned the idea of wearing make-up at all, tossing the eye liner into the sink. I approached the stairs, looking straight ahead to keep my mind focused on what I had to do. I passed his room and any other time I would have stopped to glance inside to make sure he was getting ready or waiting for me. I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as I passed the darkened room this time, and in that split second, I realized I hadn't really known him the way I used to. I stood in the hall, just staring into the darkness, almost transfixed on something in the room. It was his Mighty Ducks jersey, lying on the chair. Mom must have found it when she was looking for his suit two days earlier and placed it there.

"Tammy?" My Father's voice ascended the stairs and I moved away from the room, pulling the door shut to hold the memories inside.

"I'm coming." I said heading down the stairs. He stood at the bottom, silently telling me it was going to be all right with his eyes.

People were already arriving when I reached the bottom of the staircase; my Aunt Lucy was seated at the kitchen island, talking in low voices with my Mother, no doubt about me because she immediately quieted when I entered the room.

"Tamara, sweetie." She said getting up to kiss my cheek; she was the only one that ever addressed me by my birth name. I hated that name, though Mom picked it for some reason.

"How are you holding up?" She asked staring at me. As if there was an answer to that, I thought, mumbling a response and quickly finding something to occupy myself. Why is it that everybody always wants to know how you are or how you're feeling? The answer is so obvious that it could hit them over the head, I'm pissed, I'm torn-up and I'm really sick of answering that question, I thought, cutting up some vegetables for the platter that my Mother had placed in front of me. Keeping my hands busy would keep my mind busy from thinking all the thoughts I was trying to avoid. The front door bell rang once again and my Father's footsteps could be heard heading for the door. I didn't bother to look up, it didn't matter who it was anyways.

"Hello, Thank you for coming." His voice filled the room with sincerity, "Tammy's in the kitchen." He voiced as I tensed up, knowing it was someone here to "support" me. I was just about to run when Connie, Guy and Charlie stood in the kitchen doorway staring at me with worried eyes. I tried to smile so they wouldn't ask that question but I couldn't, feeling the tears in my eyes beginning to build up. Connie moved forward first, taking me in her embrace to let me know she was here for me. I couldn't help but begin to let the tears fall, knowing that I still had friends.

"It's okay." She soothed me as Guy and Charlie didn't really know what to do so they stood by observing the scene and placing a comforting hand on our shoulders. I regained control of myself, hearing the doorbell again and straightened up.

"I'm fine." I said a little shaken. He appeared out of the corner of my eye, in the doorway behind Guy. He was dressed in a tie and a button down blue dress shirt. I nearly laughed, I'd never seen him dress up before in my entire life.

"Fulton?" I asked as they all turned around. I tried to smile but couldn't since I was still in the middle of crying a river.

"I thought since I wasn't there yesterday maybe I could be here for you today?" He asked, seeming a little nervous. I didn't know what to say at that moment and just stared at him almost a look of confusion marking my worn face. I said the first thing that came to my mind,

"Thank you for coming." Which sounded more like a robot than me. He nodded, glancing at my Mother, who didn't have the energy to even shoot him a dirty look. She was silently conversing with my Aunt again across the island counter.

"We can't stay long, we just wanted to come and let you know we're here for you." Connie said touching my arm. I broke the stare with Fulton, glancing at her.

"Okay, I'll call you before I leave. You're going to do that thing we talked about right?" I asked talking of the fact that I had asked Connie to be my Maid-of-Honor at my wedding and she'd agreed.

"Absolutely." She said trying to make me smile but I didn't.

"Okay, I'll call you." I said again, forgetting I had said that already. They made their way out of the kitchen as Fulton and I were left alone. The silence was almost hurtful, as I suddenly, couldn't handle it anymore,

"Excuse me." I said heading for the stairs and heading for my room, the safest place in my mind. Fulton stood there for a minute, wondering if he should follow me before finally deciding he would.

The soft knock on my door startled me, I jumped a little from my hiding spot. I was curled up in the window seat, crying and silently watching as people that I didn't want to talk enter the house below.

"Come in." I muttered as I wiped at my eyes. He stood there, still looking out of place, although he really hadn't changed from the picture that haunted my dreams at night. I would never admit that I still dreamed about him at times because that wasn't something to talk about being in engaged to marry Scott in 6 weeks. I'd made my decision I had to keep telling myself.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked, shutting my door and bringing my desk chair over for him to sit down in front of me. I sighed, suddenly wishing I smoked, so I'd have something to do with my hands to keep my mind busy.

"No." I whispered, turning my eyes back to the window. So we sat in silence for what seemed like an hour, me staring out the window and Fulton staring at me with wondering eyes. He took my right hand in his hands after a few minutes and rolled my fingers in his palm. His hands were considerably rougher than I remembered. I grimaced after a minute and went to pull my hand away.

"Sorry." He softly said, letting go, "I work as a carpenter now, you know, building things. My hands are really beat up." He said rubbing them on his pants, almost trying to rub off the toughness.

"I didn't mean it that way." I mumbled, hugging my knees to my chest.

"I know." He answered back fast, looking at the floor. I nodded, looking back out the window again.

"I'm sorry." I said taking a deep breath in.

"It's okay, I understand."

"No, I don't think you do...I really am...I've been a real... I've been a real something lately." I started as Fulton quieted me.

"Tammy, it's understandable." He said standing up to leave.

"Where are you going?" I asked, panic suddenly jumping into my mind. I can't be alone, I thought.

"I thought, you might need your space." He said suddenly confused.

"No." I said simply as he sat back down. "Do you want to go for a walk?" I asked him, suddenly wanting to get out of the house, feeling very trapped in my own skin.

"I guess." He said, equally confused but standing up. I stood too, throwing my old sneakers on with my navy blue dress. I didn't care how I looked to other people.

We snuck out the back door, passed everyone I didn't want to talk to, heading towards town. He kept looking at me as if I he hadn't seen me in years, which was the truth.

"What?" I asked a little annoyed.

"Nothing, it's just a new thing for you to be back and here, you know, with me." He said turning to face ahead. I nodded in understanding, hoping the conversation didn't go any farther that small talk.

"A lot of things are new..." I muttered, glancing at the old park, which was now closed to the public. A new one was open down the block; apparently the old one wasn't safe anymore with its wooden playground and old equipment.

"Why are we walking?" He asked, suddenly feeling like he was 13 again and sneaking around behind my parents backs.

"I don't know. It just feels like the right thing." I looked up at the bright sky, letting the sun wash over me with it's glow. I could feel his eyes watching me, studying me to try to take notes on all the differences in me.

"Oh." He said, keeping pace as we made it to the edge of town.

"No, it feels like the old times." I corrected myself stopping at the corner and turning to him, my eyes big with confusion.

"The old times weren't that bad..." He said trying to taking my hand in his own again.

"But we can't go back. The past is the past." I said taking my hand back from his grip. We had walked in a complete circle, heading back to my house now. We stopped at the front gate before sneaking in the backyard and sitting on the back porch steps.

"Why did you cut your hair?" His question caught me off guard and I had to think about it for a minute. My hair, my beautiful long blond hair was not up to my shoulders and very dull.

"Had to." I said plainly, "It was too heavy for skating, it kept falling down and getting in my way."

"Oh." He said. I was surprised he even noticed, most guys wouldn't have. I had a feeling he had thought about me every day I was gone just like I had him and he had remembered what I looked like at 13. I pushed the thought away, it was not the time or the place to being doing this.

"Thanks for being here." I nervously announced standing up to head into the house. It was my basic dismissal without trying to be rude.

"I'm going to head out, I've got to be up early for work." He said suddenly as I turned to look at him.

"Okay..." I said not sure what else to say to his statement, not much else I wanted to say.

"When are you leaving?" He asked, his hands clasped at his waist.

"Sunday." I said feeling a little uneasy but nodding in a effort to steady myself.

"Well, I'll call you before that." Fulton said heading out of the yard. I felt my heart ache to watch him walk away again but it wasn't my place to stop him anymore. What we had was over and done with, I just couldn't let it go.


	12. Chapter 11: Mistakes

Walking back into the house left a dry taste in my already cotton feeling mouth. Everyone was sitting around the house, either silently eating or telling stories about Tommy. Everything about this scene made me depressed. I spotted Jesse and his younger brother, Terry, in the corner, most likely looking for me, I thought, a headache suddenly forming in my skull. Jesse tried to smile a little but didn't really seem to have the energy to do so. Terry was closest of anyone to Tommy, they had been best friends for years and in fact had been planning to go out with him the night he died but cancelled last minute to opt for homework instead. Everyone was so tired from crying, the house seemed like all life had left it. I took a deep breath and headed up the stairs for my room. Maybe I could sleep it all away.

My eyes shot open as I woke in a cold sweat. The room was dark and silent as I rubbed my forehead with my clammy hand and climbed out of the tangled bedspread. The floor was cold to the soles of my feet as I made my way to the darkened hall. The house was now empty; the guests had all retreated to the comfort of their own homes to find peace with the situation. I shook my head and decided a glass of milk might be what I needed so I headed to the kitchen. No lights were on in the house and my parents' bedroom door was shut.

"Maybe they went out..." I thought out loud, glancing at the clock. It read 2 am. "Or they're asleep." I thought again. Grabbing the milk out of the fridge, I was heading for the counter with a glass when I heard my name echo from the staircase. I glanced around the corner into the hall and no one was in sight. The hall was still dark and I couldn't made out if there was someone there or not. I felt a shiver go up my spine in response and I placed the carton on the counter.

"Tammy..." I heard it again and I dropped my glass I'd been holding so tightly. It landed with a thump on the hard wooden floor, breaking into a million pieces.

"Tommy?" I thought, heading back to the staircase. Another shiver ran down my back and I nervously gripped the railing to keep myself steady.

"Tammy..."

"I'm coming Tommy." I thought, bursting up the stairs in a sprint. I reached the top and looked around, again no one in sight.

"Tammy..." I heard it again and this time I realized it was coming from his room. I moved towards the door on shaky legs and reached for the door handle I had closed early that day. It was cold to the touch, sending a cold chill down my body. The door made a creaking noise and fell open to a darkened room.

"I'm going crazy..." I thought, rubbing my head again.

"Tammy..." I heard it loud this time and it sounded like he was right next to me. The hair on my neck stood on end as the breath in my throat caught. I turned slowly to gaze into the room and…

I shot up in a real cold sweat. My eyes adjusted to the dark and my room became cleared.

"It was just a dream." I murmured to myself with a heavy sigh. The outline of the furniture came into view and I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, it was 7:30 pm already. I took a couple deep breaths and looked around. The sweat from my forehead dripped down my face, and I pushed the heavy covers from my petite body. I stood quickly in the darkness. The house seemed to be quiet as I made my way down the stairs, towards the kitchen. My Mother sat up, looking over paperwork, while my Father was in the living room watching Jeopardy. The house felt cold and dead, I couldn't be here anymore, I thought, grabbing my keys and heading out the front door.

I drove for what seemed like forever, looking to find someone I know to talk to. No one was home, big surprise since it was a Friday night, right? I drove down Main Street looking for anyone when I caught sight of him, coming out of the grocery store, two bags in hand. I just couldn't get away from Fulton Reed no matter how much I tried to push him away or how many times I ran away. I stepped on the gas hard to get away from him and in the process burned the tires making a loud screech. That caught his attention, I thought as I sped off down the block, feeling a little embarrassed. He probably thought I was showing off with my Mustang but I hadn't meant to.

The college came into view and I remembered Connie telling me she was now living in the dorm rooms. I had no idea where I was going but at least it was a better idea then to keep driving around. Pulling into a spot, I climbed out of the car.

The dorms were brightly lit as I approached, hoping there would be someone to ask. The minute I walked into the dorm house, there was people yelling and toilet paper hanging from the ceiling. I had never seen such a scene in my life; these people were animals. I looked for someone I knew but no one was in sight, so I headed down the hall. It just got worse as I headed in farther, there were people making out in the halls and people jumping from room to room, slamming the doors. I felt like my head would explode when I finally made it to the common room, where the real party was going on. People were dancing on the tables and music was loud from the corner of the room. Before I could look for Connie, an arm came around my shoulders and a very drunk college boy was drooling on me. I pushed him back roughly and watched him fall on his butt before I headed to find anybody I knew at this point.

I finally spotted Adam and a tall pretty blonde talking in the corner. I recognized her as Julie Gaffney from the goodwill games.

"Adam...I'm so glad I found you." I said as he turned to me,

"Tammy? What are you doing here?" He asked taking a sip of his beer.

"I was looking for Connie." I said trying to move out of the way of someone swinging from the light fixture.

"Her and Guy are down the hall but I wouldn't go down there." He said with a smile on his face. I sighed, depressed.

"Okay." I said turning back to the party. I might as well have a drink, I thought feeling slightly desperate to let the pain go that was filling up my mind again.

I spotted the beer and headed in that direction hoping no one would stop me.

"Hey, aren't you that chick from the Olympics?" A guy serving beer asked. I tried to smile slightly.

"No, I get that a lot...besides what were you doing watching the pairs figure skating anyway?" I asked as the guys around him laughed. I took the beer and walked away fast. There was really no one here to talk to, so I sat down to observe the events. See, I had a tutor for high school at the compound in which I trained. There was never any parties or any thing of that nature, not even a school dance. I know it sounds so boring but you got used to it. Looking around the room, I found most of this behavior funny due to my sheltered existence. People were making out in the corners, dancing on the tables, and just being plain stupid. I spotted the guy that I made fun of at the bar, heading my way and I moved uneasily in my seat.

"Hey, I just wanted to say sorry if I offended you." He said handing me a drink. I wasn't going to take it at first, but I figured it would save me a trip of going to get another on.

"Thanks. I'm sorry too...I didn't mean to embarrass you or anything." I said looking at his friends that were still smiling. He sat down next to me as I began to feel uncomfortable.

"Well, drink up." He said as I looked at him, was this what happened at parties? I asked myself; taking a drink of the one he gave me. He smiled.

"Well, alright...we're cool..." He said with a laugh. I smiled a little nervously.

"Right, I'm going to get going." I said getting up and heading towards Adam. Maybe he would protect me.

"What?" The guy asked, grabbing my arm. I pulled it away.

"Thanks." I said walked away, fast. I made it to the bathroom when my head started to spin. I felt like the ground was moving against me as I tried to look straight and make it to Adam at least. I felt a pair of arms come around my waist and pull me towards a darkened room as I tried to yell. The guy that had given me the drink flicked on the light and stared down at me. I had been thrown on a couch in what looked like a lounge area. My head continued to spin and I saw double. He came closer to me as I tried to scream, felling my airway constricted.

"Somebody..." I whispered. "Please...don't." I said as he was leering over me, blocking the light from the ceiling. I could see in his eyes he was still mad about being made a fool of.

"No!" I said as tried to kiss me. I moved my head, trying to get away from him.

The door swung open and I felt the cold air hit my face. There was a fight going on but I couldn't lift my head to see who or what it was. I felt like I was slipping into a dark tunnel. My head was spinning and I glanced up as a figure standing over me.

"Please don't hurt me." I said still slipping away.

"Tammy, stay with me." Fulton's voice was in my ear as I felt him pick me up and carry me out of the room.

"Dude, you going to be okay?" I heard a rather deep voice ask as Fulton swung me around.

"Yeah, thanks Portman. Just enjoy the party. I'm going to take her home." Fulton said.

I felt the cold night air hit me as I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from falling. He wrapped his arms tighter around my body, holding me against his chest.

"I love you, Fulton." I said feeling the darkness finally take over and I fell into a deep sleep.


	13. Chapter 12: Hidden Feelings

He stayed up that whole night or so I was told later. He was worried about me, worried that I wouldn't wake up in the morning; imagine that? He had fears that I'd wake up and he wouldn't be there and that would be the end of whatever we had because he'd never see me again. I had a dreamless sleep that night, the first in ages and when I woke up in the morning my eyes focused on the only poster on the plain white wall. It was Metallica and I suddenly knew I wasn't home. This wasn't my bed or my room. I sat up to glance around the room and found a dresser, some posters on the opposite wall of rock bands that i'd never heard of and a table, sitting next to the right side of the bed, empty except for my purse that lay there. It wasn't much but it smelled of after-shave and soap and I knew a man had to live here. Just as I finished my thought, I felt someone move next to my hand and found Fulton Reed asleep against my hand with his head on the side of the bed. He was sitting in a chair that looked to be the most uncomfortable chair possible and leaning unto my hand to sleep. I sighed deep, trying to crawl out of the other side of the bed without waking him. It was too late,

"Tammy?" He asked as I had my back to him, I was standing on the other side of the bed, facing away from him, adjusting my clothes that had been wrinkled in the night.

"Fulton." I said turning around fast and suddenly feeling the blood rush to my head, it was a stabbing pain behind my eyes and in my forehead. My glistening orbs felt like they could explode and I gripped the bed in my tightened fist. He was at my side before I could say anything and picked me up, laying me back on the bed to rest.

"Fult..."

"Shh...It's okay. Don't talk." He said pushing the damp hair from my face to stare down at me. I looked up at him and felt guilt creep up my spine,

"Fulton...I know I said some things late night..." I started but he quieted me,

"I know..." He said softly. I could feel his hopes being crushed as his eyes darkened to the sunlight comin in the open window.

"I didn't come back here to hurt you Fulton..." I tried to explain.

"I know, Tommy was your brother..." He said getting up from the side of the bed and heading into the bathroom to get a washcloth. He rinsed it with water and came out, placing it on my forehead to relieve my headache.

"Thanks." I said calmly. "Fulton, didn't you have to work today?"

"I decided to stay home...I didn't know what that guy gave you last night and I didn't want to leave you alone." He said turning away. I felt my heart get that familiar prickly feeling whenever he was around and soar out of my chest.

"Fulton, I should be honest with you." I said feeling my eyes become blurry with condensation, I didn't want to tell him about Scott but I couldn't let him keep thinking we could be together again.

"I already know." He said, not turning around to me.

"You do?" I asked, confusion marked on my face.

"Tammy, I'm not stupid, like some people like to believe. I know an engagement ring when I see one." He said softly, turning to walk out of the room. I laid back down, staring at the ceiling, a vacant expression marking my face. I wished there was a way for no one to get hurt, I wished there was a way to erase the past 7 years and start all over again. I slowly got up, heading out to the kitchen, he was standing at the counter, he hand on the back of his neck in contemplation. He turned, looking at me with a shocked expression,

"Tammy, get back in that room." He said, catching me, as I stumbled into his awaiting arms.

"Fulton, I need you to understand." I said as he sat me down on his couch, returning to the kitchen in a quickened pace.

"You don't need to explain..." Fulton said, not showing any emotion. At least if he was, he wasn't showing it to me. I moved the ring up and down on my finger, a nervous habit I'd obtained.

"Tammy?" His voice echoed in my ear.

"Yeah?"

"He's a lucky guy...you can tell him I said that." He said not turning around. "He better be nice to you." Fulton warned.

"He's never hurt me." I trailed off.

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah, I guess I am." I said with an unsure voice. He looked away from me.

"Then I'm happy for you." He said, still not looking at me. I knew he was doing this for my benefit and not his own but what more could I ask of him. He poured two cups of coffee from the pot and came over, sitting one in front of me. I glanced at it, more interested in him than a beverzge I never was too fond of.

"Fulton...why did you save me last night?" I asked.

"I followed you last night after you left the grocery store and I spotted your car in the college parking lot. I went in to check on you and found that guy pushing you in a room." Anger filled his voice as he resighted the prior night's events.

"Oh." I said softly, "Fulton, are you sure you're okay?" I asked

"You just couldn't let it go, could you?" Fulton said suddenly agitated. "I told you it was fine with me." He said getting up to head out of the room.

"Don't run away from me!" I suddenly shouted feeling like that's all he ever did. He stopped,

"Run away? Me run away? Look who's talking! It's me that's always gotta save you!" He shouted back, "I'm talking to the queen of running away from her problems!" He yelled. I suddenly felt all the blood rush to my head as I stood up, but I didn't care. I crossed the room in a huff.

"I don't need help from a hypocrite!" I shouted.

"Hypocrite? Look in the mirror princess! I wouldn't have to keep saving you if you could stay out of trouble!"

"Who left who that day?" I asked a very heated tone now rising in my voice.

"You left me."

"No, you turned your back on me!" I yelled.

"You were gonna leave anyway!"

"I had no choice!" I yelled again, this time directly towards his face.

"You could have waited for me!" The room suddenly fell quiet as I looked up at him; his eyes were on fire with hurt. I took a deep breath,

"There's no sense in fighting about things we can't change, they're done." I said quietly beginning to turn away from his unrelenting stare.

"What about things we can?" He asked, pulling me to him and bringing his lips down on mine. I braced my hands against his chest to push him away but I didn't. I found myself wanting anything he would give me, and my hands relaxed, pulling him to me. Fulton's hands were in my hair, crushing my lips to his as he backed me up into the wall. I felt the cold plaster hit my bare arms as I was slammed back into it. His lips left mine and began to leave soft wet marks on the curve of my neck.

"Fulton..." The soft whisper left my lips and I grabbed his face, taking control. I turned us around, so he was against the wall this time and I grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head. His chest was well defined and my fingers traced the lines made from all those years of hockey. My hands ran around to his back and I could feel the long ago forgotten scars brush the tips of my fingers as they ran down his spine. He took my face in his hands and kissed me again, feeling the passion explode between us. His hands fell to my back and trailed down over my backside, finding my thighs and picking me up. On reaction, my legs went around his middle, grabbing his strong arms as they held me. I felt the slight vibration of him walking us to the couch, as my hands were in his shoulder length dark hair.

The couch felt hard as my back fell against it but I never took my eyes off Fulton. His kisses were like candy I'd long been denied and I wanted him, god, how I missed him. The realization hit me that if I didn't stop him now, we were gonna make love in the next few minutes. If that's what you could call it, I didn't know how he felt or frankly how I felt. The thought didn't scare me but the repercussions of such a careless action did.

"Fulton?" I asked as he continued to kiss my lips. He groaned a little in acknowledgement.

"Fulton, we can't!" I said pushing against him. My body wanted to pull him closer and I fought the urge to just let him continue,

"Fulton!" I yelled pushing hard against him. He finally looked up at him, his eyes filled with passion that made me want to grab him and start over again. I resisted the urge and crawled out from under him, sitting up.

"We can't." I said as I came up and sat next to me. He looked down at his hands, no doubt as embarrassed as I was. We sat in silence for a few minutes before we both spoke.

"I'm sorry." We said as the same time. I sighed,

"I really am."

"Me too." He whispered, getting up from the couch. He ran his hand through his hair and grabbed something off the counter in the kitchen.

"Portman dropped you car off this morning, he said she runs great." He said trying to lighten the obvious tension. It helped a little as I sighed, remembering I had to go home to that shell of a house. For a moment, I didn't have a care in the world, for a moment I was with Fulton again and everything was right. I sighed again, straightening my clothes and standing, my head wasn't as bad anymore.

"I should be going." I said slightly embarrassed still. Fulton had put his shirt back on and stood, looking at me.

"Tammy." He said reaching out to me. His hand brushed the bare of my arm and I felt sparks go down my arm. I turned and met his eyes.

"Did you mean what you said last night?" I felt like his eyes could burn a hole through me, they were so piercing. I silently contemplated my answer when the phone rang.

"I gotta get that." He mumbled, as I looked down, a little relieved. I glanced at the rocking chairs he had in his living room and walked over, looking at them. I'd never seen a design quite like that before and I sat, to wait for Fulton. He was talking low in the other room and came back out to find me sitting in the chair.

"I see you found my handiwork." He said as I glanced down and saw his initials carved in the arm.

"You made these?" I asked.

"Yeah." He laughed, sitting in the opposite one.

"They're really beautiful..." I said quietly, touching the engraved area. "I gotta go." I said suddenly overcome with tension and stood up. Fulton stood up too as I made my way to the door. I turned to look at him once more and found his face inches from mine. I swallowed hard and looked down,

"Thank you, Fulton." I said softly not looking at him.

"You never answered my question." He said just as soft. I bite my lower lip in nervousness and met his eyes with my own.

"Fulton, I've made my decision. I'm marrying Scott in a month." I said as his eyes went dark again. He looked down and nodded slightly.

"That's not answering it but if that's all you can give..." He chuckled a little.

"All I can give is friendship. That's all I can give you." I said softly. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine. I felt the air leave my lungs.

"Well, I love you, Tammy." He said turning away just as quickly as he had been there. I touched my fingers to my lips and headed out the front door, closing it with a click.

My car sat in his driveway with the top down. I sighed; opening the door and taking one last glance at the house before stepping behind the wheel. I started the engine and heard a ringing coming from my glove compartment. It was my cell phone. I reached over and opened it, glancing at the number.

"Hello?" I asked really confused.

"Hey, Baby...it's me...I'm in town." Scott said on the other end. I looked back at Fulton's house,

"That's great..." I said trying to sound happy.

"So, I'll be at your house in like fifteen minutes." He said as felt my heart drop,

"Okay, I'll see you soon."

"I love you." He said happily.

"I love you too." I said half-heartedly. I hung up the phone and stared down at it for a minute. What was I gonna do?


	14. Chapter 13: Scott Evans

I glanced out the picture window of my parent's house, waiting anxiously for the arrive of my Fiancee, my parents in the background lecturing me again about being out late and at least calling when i wan't going to be home. Little did they know I was unconscience the night before and sleeping in Fulton Reed's bed of all places. If my Mother had found out that she was be on the roof by now. I really wasn't listening as I waited for Scott to get there but i could imagine the lecture from my Mother if she had any idea where I had been. She would start out with the , you're ruining your future, leacture then process into the he's no good for you speech. I'd heard it too many times to not remember it. My hands were shaking nervously as a cab pulled up to the curb at the front of my house. Scott got out, looking around and little out of place in the suburban area. I smiled at his akwardness.

Scott Evans was a tall man with light hair to match my own and the brightest blue eyes I'd ever seen. He stood awkwardly some of the time because of an injury he sustained during on of our early morning practices last year. We had tried to do a move where I was thrown up in the air and caught and it ended with Scott's knee cut open by my skate and a broken wrist for myself. Overall not a good practice if I might say so myself but it didn't impede us going to the olympics. He was lucky that he could skate after that.

I suppose that's where our friendship grew to love, when I thought I might lose him but I didn't and he proposed a year later, just before we went to the olympics. Win or lose we'd have each other was the way he had put it and i believed him. I smiled to myself as he made his way up the front steps and into the gate. Ingoring the still ranting of my parents, I quickly rushed to the door and swung it open to meet him.

"Scott!" I called as we met on the front steps and he leaned down to kiss me. It was a very awkward kiss and very wet than what we would normally share. I looked down as he hugged me to his chest,

"Oh, I've missed you." He said stroking my hair against my head. "How are you, is everything okay? I'm sorry I couldn't be here." He said all at once. I laughed a little,

"It's okay, you're here now." I said softly, holding his jacket in my hands.

"Well, shall I meet the parents?" He asked, picking up his bag where it had fallen on the steps. I took his hand to lead him into the house.

"Yeah, they're a little agitated right now." I said not really explaining the events of the light before.

We came back in the front door and my parents looked up to start yelling at me again when they saw Scott. My Mother dropped her sewing and my Father looked over his book with suspicious eyes.

"Mom, Dad, This is Scott." I said as they glanced at each other and back at me. I hoped they weren't gonna tell him about what I had been up to the passed couple of days. I bit my lips waiting for an answer and finally Mom picked up her sewing from the floor and stood,

"Scott, it's great to finally meet you..." She said heading into the kitchen without another word. My Father just went back to his book, deciding not to made an comments. I looked back at Scott after the akward introduction and pulled him towards the stairs.

"Well, let's go put your stuff down in the guest room." I said leading him up the stairs. He looked around in surprise at the pictures and decor,

"Wow, very girly." He said at the pink and white bedspread.

"Mom." I said, trying to catch his eye as he settled in, "I'm sorry, my parents..." I started but he came over, kneeling in front of my chair.

"Tammy, I know your family's going through a rough time right now and I didn't expect to come here and be welcomed with hugs and smiles." He said patting my knee and kissing my forehead. I smiled a little.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you...we don't need to go back on Sunday, Coach switched the venues for you." He said with his back to me. I shifted uncomfortable on the chair.

"He did? Where are we performing now?" I asked a little afraid of what I would hear.

"Oh, we're doing that television thing down at the arena in town...Coach figured you would want to be here with your family and all but we couldn't pull the television deal so we have to broadcast live." Scott said putting some stuff in the dresser. My face froze a little,

"Well, don't you think that arena's too small?" I asked. Scott laughed a little,

"No, unless your head's gotten bigger since the Olympics." He joked, "I was gonna go over there later tonight to take a look at it but it looks fine. This way we can invite your old friends." He smiled, coming to stand back in front of me. I tried to smile but it kind of looked like I was grimacing.

"So, we'll go after dinner over to the arena?" He asked. I looked up at him,

"Sure." I silently hoped that hockey practice wasn't today...

I silently sat in the passenger's seat of my car as Scott drove to the arena. The ride was silent and Scott kept looking at me with worried eyes,

"You okay?" He asked as I stared at the people on the sidewalk.

"Yeah." I said acting like everything okay. He took my hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze before returning his hand to the wheel. The arena was coming into view and I looked in the parking lot for signs of a mint green dodge ram. My hopes were lifting as I didn't see the ugly thing but I felt the bottom of my stomach completely drop out as it sat in the very front of the parking lot, windows down and probably unlocked.

"Why is everyone so trusting." I mumbled to myself, silently hoping someone would steal it. But then again, why would anyone want it, I reminded myself.

"What?" Scott asked.

"Nothing, just thinking." I lied, keeping my eyes on that green truck as I got out.

The arena was cold as usual and the bright colors of yellow and green were on the ice, it was worse than I thought, not only was there practice but there was a game tonight. I turned quickly to Scott,

"It looks busy, let's just go." I said ushering him to the door. He laughed a little.

"Tammy, there's hardly fifty people here, besides I never watch hockey anymore..." He said seeing no problem in hanging around to wait for the ice to clear. I nodded, looking like an idiot probably as Scott spotted the owner of the arena,

"There's Mr. Bates." He said, "I'll be back." He headed for the owner as I peered down at the hockey game going on. Portman was standing on the bench in the box yelling at one of the kids on the ice as Fulton was taking care of a young girl's scratched knee. I smiled, as I'd never seen that side of him. An older blonde girl, if I had to guess seventeen maybe, came down out of the stands and was leaning over the glass talking to Fulton as he was bandaging up the knee. He smiled slightly, leaning against the glass and talking as I felt a pang of jealousy hit at my heart with a hammer. My lips tensed and I tried to look away but I couldn't and found myself thinking of ways for her to have an accident. An arm came around my shoulder and I jumped a little,

"Oh!" I said seeing Scott's face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said smiling a little.

"No, I was just thinking." I said shaking the feeling and instead thinking of Tommy and how that was the one thing we ended up agreeing on. Hockey was something we could do together and we both liked, even though I wouldn't admit it.

"Oh, okay. I talked to the owner and he said this game will probably be over in like twenty minutes and we can have the ice after that to try it out. He's very pleased that we choose to do the program here." Scott nodded away. I half listened and shook my head in agreement.

"So you wanna get your skates from the car?" He asked that brought me back to reality.

"We're skating?" I asked. He laughed,

"Yeah...have you been listening to me?" He asked.

"Yeah...I just missed that part." I said taking my keys and heading for the car to grab our skates. Scott just looked after me and glanced at the ice, wondering what I was staring at.

Twenty minutes passed in a blur as I changed into one of my skating outfits and my skates and met Scott at the arena entrance where the hockey team was still clearing out. I smoothed the red fabric over my shoulders and stretched a little against the wall. Portman was the first to walk off and see me. I tried to turn away so he wouldn't let Scott know he knew me but my stomach tightened as his laugh filled the air,

"Tammy, babe." He said as I immediately felt like I was being hit on. I turned, unable to ignore him. Scott was at my side and I looked up at him,

"Dean...nice to see you again." I said trying to silently tell him not to mention last night. Portman was, of course, completely oblivious to my facial expressions.

"Yeah, that party was hot last night wasn't it?" He laughed as Scott looked at me; I looked shocked and tried to think of something fast.

"I mean, the music alone...I didn't know they had Metallica." He laughed and threw the sticks he'd been carrying over his shoulder. I laughed trying to make it seem like it was a joke.

"Well, I have to go, Fulton will be off the ice in a minute if you're here to talk to him. Been acting strange all day." He said walking past me and not even acknowledging Scott. He was such an idiot, I'd figured out.

"Hey, your car's a beauty by the way." He called as I smiled and waved.

"Who was that?" Scott asked utterly confused.

"No one...a friend of a friend."

"What party was he talking about?" He questioned. I thought fast,

"Oh, my party...I mean Mom invited a few people over yesterday..." I said fast.

"Your Mom listens to Metallica?" He questioned again.

"Yeah..." I said turning away, "Always has." I said suddenly picturing my Mom rocking to Metallica on the living room couch and I cracked up as Fulton walked off the ice. I stopped when he stopped me,

"Tammy?" He questioned as the kids walked passed him.

"Fulton." I said softly. "This is Scott..." I said pulling Scott to my side in an effort to make myself self assured. Fulton immediately tensed but held out his hand in an akward fashion,

"Scott..." He said shaking his hand. Scott smiled,

"Fulton, was it?" He asked. Fulton nodded and Scott looked at me for a second,

"Oh, you're Tammy's old friend?" Scott asked remembering me talking about him back in the day. Fulton nodded a little.

"It a pleasure to finally meet you." Scott said letting go of his hand. Fulton looked Scott up and down in his skating suit and the ruffles that were around the collar.

"Tammy, there's the owner again, I need to tell him something else that coach wanted for the television program." Scott said heading off towards him. Fulton watched him walk away before opening his mouth again,

"You left me for that?" He asked a little repulsed. I sneered at him,

"Fulton, you're in no place to poke fun at Scott." I said as he smiled a little,

"Guess it doesn't matter, I could never pull off the outfit." He joked, I slapped his arm to get him to stop and he did.

"What are you doing here?" He asked suddenly confused.

"We're gonna be doing a program from here for a television special." I said. He smiled a little,

"What are they gonna call it, the Tammy and Scott hour?" He questioned. I slapped him again.

"Do you think this is funny for me?" I asked getting serious.

"No, look, I figure after this morning a laugh might do us both some good." He said rubbing his arm a little.

"No." I said plainly. I was picturing him with that blonde again and suddenly the words were flying out of my mouth,

"Well, you didn't wait too long did you?" I asked suddenly wishing I could eat my words. His face changed again and his eyes became cold,

"What business of that is yours?" He asked with a kind of bitterness.

"Fulton, she looked like a teenager." I started, trying to make a point.

"She's 18, she's one of my players' sisters." He said as I suddenly felt out of place but I continued,

"Well, that's still two years difference."

"Oh, come off it, you know that's not what this is about." He said looking back at me. I opened my mouth to speak and Scott was back at my side,

"Everything okay?" He asked.

"Fine! Fine, Fulton was just telling me he had to get back to the locker room." I said looking up at him. Fulton sighed a little,

"Yeah, my team needs a talk before their parents come to pick them up." He said nodding at Scott,

"Goodbye, Tammy." He said breezing passed me. I felt a loss in my chest but I brushed it off, getting ready to go out on the ice.

Fulton finished his talk and headed out of the arena, across the top of the stands. He stopped when he saw me in the air and watched from the stands before heading out into the cold night air, an emptiness consuming him.


	15. Chapter 14: Stolen Kisses

The next few days passed in a blur as I tried without success to concentrate on the upcoming event. Images of Fulton and me kissing kept floating into my head and I silently wished I could turn my brain off. At least until after the wedding. Just four more weeks, I kept telling myself every time I ran into him in the grocery store or at the mall. He was everywhere I went, it felt like.

I woke up the morning of the show and felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I was finally going to get back on the ice. I knew Tommy wouldn't want us all to sit around and cry forever but it suddenly felt like it was the right thing to do. The sky was a clear blue as I drove into town, not waking anyone at the house before heading for Hans's sports shop. My skates hadn't been sharpened since the Olympics and I figured if I was to skate at my full potential that night I would need the best skates possible.

My luck just kept getting better as there was an open spot right out front and I parked my car, retrieved my skates from the back seat and headed into the store. The familiar scent hit me as I stepped through the doorway and into the old shop. It was a scent of pine and Old Spice I'd always come to associate with Hans. He had always been there for each and everyone of us, from fixing my skates for me for a competition to giving Charlie a job. I didn't realize just how much I'd really missed until it hit me that Hans was gone too. Time changes everything doesn't it? I was learning this slowly, I thought as I made my way through the group of kids looking at the hockey gear. I recognized a couple of them as being on Fulton's team, one the small blonde with the hurt knee. I smiled to myself and spotted Charlie standing behind the counter, chatting with Connie, who looked to have bought something.

"Hey, guys!" I said, trying to sound happy.

"Tammy. You're outta the house?!" Connie said in a joking sort of way as I laughed along with her.

"Yeah, I was hoping Captain Duck would have time today to sharpen my skates for me?" I asked almost pouting and Charlie looked down,

"Well, I might but I'd need a favor or two." He laughed as I swatted him,

"I'm a nearly married woman." I joked as Charlie motioned for me to hand him the skates.

"I'll do them right now if you two wanna hang around and watch the store for me?" He said looking at the blades.

"Great!" I said looking at Connie, "I need to talk to you anyway."

"Okay." Connie said as Charlie headed to the back.

"We're doing the first fitting on Thursday, Will you be able to make it?" I asked.

"What time?"

"Around noon. His Mother and sister are flying in tonight for the performance and then they're staying for the preparations. I can't even believe it's four weeks from today." I said my face suddenly feeling flushed.

"Yeah, time flies by... I'll be there." She said looking to the door as two more kids came in, looking for hockey gear. I sighed deeply,

"The next thing for me is a family, I guess." I said as the thought burrowed into my mind and I felt suddenly nervous.

"You two aren't gonna have kids right away, right?" Connie asked a little shocked.

"We haven't really talked about it that much. I mean, I know he wants a family and so do I and well, we have our gold medals already..." I trailed off, suddenly feeling like I'd said too much. Connie stood staring at me before Charlie re-emerged from the back room with my skates.

"There you go, Ms. Duncan." I smiled brightly,

"Thanks so much Charlie. How much do I owe you?" I asked, pulling out my checkbook.

"Don't even worry about it." Charlie said pushing my pen out of my hand.

"Are you sure? I mean, won't you get in trouble with your boss?" I asked as Connie and Charlie cracked up. I looked at them for a minute and then asked,

"What? Did I say something funny?" I asked.

"Well..." Connie started as Charlie finished it,

"You've been away far too long, Tammy." He said with a laugh, "Bombay gave me the store after I finished high school." He said ringing up a small girl with a hockey stick.

"Oh." I said feeling a little dumb, "Well, thanks, I'll see you two tonight." I said heading out of the store.

The afternoon breezed by and I was left feeling like I'd forgotten something when we left the house at 6:30. The thought ate at me as Scott drove to the arena but I couldn't figure out what I was missing. I brushed the thought out of my mind and began to warm up as soon as we made it to the arena. Although we were headlining the event there were other performances to be done including Scott's younger sister, Madison, who was training for the next Olympics with our coach. She was two years my junior making her 17 and the only way to describe her was a firecracker. She was the complete opposite of Scott, she had flaming red hair that fell just below her shoulders that she refused to put up unless it was an important event and skated to every rock band you could think of. If Scott's parents hadn't made a considerable contribution to the compound, I don't think she would have been allowed in. She also had a tattoo that I wasn't supposed to know about but spotted during a training session when she broke one of her ribs and had to be taped up. To make a long story short she wasn't my favorite person to be around and she definitely wasn't someone I wanted to spend quiet Saturday evenings with. In a round about way, she reminded me of Fulton when we were younger but in a sisterly sort of way that made me not like her even more. I do have to admit; she'd never done anything that could be construed as mean to me so I just tried to keep my distance.

I was seated on the cold arena floor when Madison and their Mother walked in the performers entrance to the arena. As usual, Mrs. Evans was yelling about something Madison did earlier that day,

"I can't believe you! What are people to tell about you anyway, heavens knows what they think about me already." She went on as I tried not to listen to her until,

"Tammy!" She called, spotting me on the floor and thrusting her bag into Madison's chest. Madison made a face at the new weight and rolled her eyes.

Mrs. Evans was a short plump woman with light blonde, maybe even red in certain lights, hair and a round, smiling face. You couldn't help but smile back at her. She was the Mother I wished I'd had, though she had enough to deal with having Madison as a daughter.

"Mrs. Evans." I said hugging her as she reached me,

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Mom?" She asked with a laugh as Madison skulked over to where we were standing and made a gagging noise like she was going to puke her lunch up. I smiled warmly, noting her distaste for the way her Mother treated me.

"Madison, how nice to see you." I said looking at her. She rolled her eyes,

"I wouldn't _dream_ of being anywhere else." She said with a sigh and sulked off to her dressing room.

"So tell me everything. Where are we having the wedding and where are you getting your dress from?" She said, taking my arm around hers and beginning to walk towards the arena opening.

"Well...I'm getting fitted on Thursday for a dress, we haven't finalized a place." I said softly.

"Haven't fina... Tammy you're getting married in a month not a year." She said with a laugh, "I know the perfect place." She said as we continued our walk down the hall.

Madison peeked her head out the door behind us and ran in the opposite direction though Mrs. Evans didn't take notice, just continued to meddle in my wedding plans.

"Thinks she can bully me around." Madison said creeping along the corridor and towards the exit. She was nearly to the door when it flew open and a man stood there looking at her. Madison immediately felt weak in the knees as he entered the building and smiled at her. She tried to smile and just stared, apparently looking goofy as ever. As soon as he passed Madison came back to reality,

"Wait a minute, I'm Madison Evans, and no-one makes me go weak in the knees. I make them..." and with this she marched off towards the direction the man went in.

I sighed deeply, heading back towards the locker room after insisting that Mrs. Evans take her seat in the stands before they were all filled. She finally agreed and I was free. My hair was starting to fall down out of my clip, so I made my way to the hair stylist that was seated in the hall outside locker rooms 5 and 6. As I turned the corner I stopped dead in my tracks and spotted Fulton on the other end of the hall talking to the firecracker herself. My heart fluttered a little before seeing her pass him a note and my insides turned to mush. They smiled at each other before she turned and headed back towards her own locker room. Fulton continued down the hall towards me. He smiled a little, spotting me,

"Geez, I come here for the show and I keep getting stopped every five minutes. What can I do for you Ms. Duncan?" He asked sarcastically. I sneered at him,

"Nothing...why don't you just hit on every girl you come in contact with?" I asked feeling my face go red and heat up with anger. He smiled,

"You're jealous...I wasn't sure the last time but now I'm positive. It wasn't Carrie's age or you being worried about me or the fact that Scott's sister Madison, who so kindly introduced herself to me, was talking to me. You just can't handle me being with anyone but you." Fulton smiled again, the reality finally hitting him.

"You're full of yourself aren't you?"

"Look in the mirror."

"Oh, I've looked. It's obvious you haven't or you'd know how stupid you look!" I said raising my voice.

"Excuse me, Princess, we all couldn't have private tutors like you!" He yelled back.

"No but they did make special classes for you!" I shot back, feeling guilty after I said it. He stepped back a minute to compose himself before continuing,

"Look, my personal life is none of your business. Frankly, my entire life is none of your business so why don't you quit following me around." He snapped.

"Me follow you? Try reading up on stalking before you accuse me of something you're doing."

"I'm stalking you? Who stuck their head in the ice cream cooler yesterday to avoid being spotted? May I add, again in the same store as me!" Fulton shouted now.

"I was looking for the light kind and it's always in the back! Not that I need to explain myself to the likes of you!" I poked my finger at his chest.

"No, just to the man you're intending to marry." He said as I stopped. My breathing was deep and uneven from fighting and his gaze fell on my lips. Why is it that fighting induces all the hormones needed for a really good make out session? I didn't have times to ponder this question as he pulled me to him, meeting our lips in a rough and hungry kiss. I pulled away but he held my head firmly in his grasp, taking in every taste of me. I finally stopped fighting and grabbed the front of his jacket in my hands, twisting the fabric until it was so tight around my fingers that they were going numb. I really needed to stop this, anyone could see us out in the open of the hall and tell Scott. What was I doing? Scott wants to marry me and I'm kissing my old boyfriend in the middle of the hall. The reality of the situation came back to me and I pushed on his chest.

"Fulton, stop!" I said as he pulled away. My lips were red and bruised as he pulled away, leaning against the opposite wall. I leaned against the other and we stood in silence for a few moments before he stood,

"This isn't getting us anywhere. Tammy, I either need you in my life completely or not at all." He said taking long strides to get away from me. I sighed deeply, my hair was now all down and I felt the guilt set in. I stood there to regroup for a minute and before I could get up to walk away, I heard a click of a door shutting down the hall. Was someone was watching us?


	16. Chapter 15: BlackMail

My hands wouldn't stop shaking the rest of the night as I tried to convince myself no one was watching Fulton and I. At least I hoped that was the case. I walked slowly towards the ice where Madison was finishing up her routine and I watched the light following her, silently gripping the barricade in the hopes of keeping myself stable.

What if Scott saw us?

I hadn't seen him since before that.

What if he was mad at me?

No, I'm just being paranoid.

Am I? Why isn't he here yet?

He's just busy, is all. Everything is fine.

All sorts of ideas were now flying through my head. I sighed, trying to silence them and glanced behind me to see if Scott was coming. The familiar base of one of Madison's rock songs was pounding in my heart as I felt my heart pounding in my chest. The room started to spin and I felt myself lose balance, everything went black.

"Tammy?" I felt the darkness all around me but I heard the voice calling me.

"Tammy? Are you alright?" Madison's voice was in my head. I opened my eyes slowly and gazed at the arena lights. I was back in the corridor, on a stretcher.

"What happened?" I asked as I felt my head.

"You just passed out, no doubt from all the stress you've been under..." Madison said smirking a little. I didn't even notice as I sat up.

"What time is it, did I miss the show?" I asked nervously.

"No, you still don't go on for another hour. You've only been out five, maybe ten minutes." She said looking at the doctor's equipment on the table. I glanced at her, trying to figure out what she was doing.

"Madison, have you seen Scott?" I asked trying not to sound worried.

"Yeah, he went to get something for you..." I sighed in relief.

"Oh, I couldn't find him and I was getting worried." I said shaking my head with relief.

"Yeah, I saw him right after I saw you with that guy in the hall." My blood froze in my veins as the words escaped her mouth.

"What did you say?" I said with a hope that I'd heard her wrong.

"You should pick your make-out spots a little better next time." She joked as my chest tightened.

"Madison, it wasn't what you think it was..." I tried to explain.

"Oh, no need to explain, as Fulton said, you just need to explain it to the man you intend to marry..." Madison smiled a little. She was really enjoying this, that little witch.

"Of course, not tonight." She said setting down the instrument she had been looking at. There was hope!

"You didn't tell him?" I asked.

"No." She said simply as I felt the urge to hug her. I didn't but a smile spread on my face.

"Madison, I can really explain."

"Save it. First off, call me Maddie, I hate Madison!" She exclaimed. I was a little taken aback.

"O-okay." I stammered.

"Secondly, it's up to you really if this secret stays a secret or not." She smiled coyly. Suddenly, I realized the advantage she had over me.

"Madison, I'm not breaking any laws for you." I started.

"God, would you let me finish? You're like my Mother!" She sneered. I quieted and waited for her to continue.

"Okay, so first off, I'd like to say, you're the stupidest person I have ever met..." My mouth hung open at this as she paced in front of me.

"Excuse me..." I started.

"Shut up, okay... I'm still talking...right, so, yes, you are officially the dumbest girl I think I've met ever. Granted my brother's not a bad guy and you seem like the type that's looking for a knight in shining armor, maybe with lots of money, I haven't worked that one out yet. But still, you're so obviously in love with that Fulton guy... but it's not my business so I'll just leave it at that..." She stopped for a minute as my face reddened and I was about to say something.

"Ahh, I'm still not done. So anyways, I was trying to get away from my Mother while I still can and I was almost to the back door when this, I can't even describe him, piece of a man walks in the back door. I'm immediately taken aback, right." Now she was talking to me like I was her sister. I shook my head as she went on about who I can only imagine to be Fulton.

"So, I follow him right and he's like overtaken by these little chicken heads who, I know I can take any day. Just bring them on..."

"Madison, will you get to the point!" I finally said as she stopped and stared at me,

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Princess... I can just go tell Scott right now..." She started,

"No, just get to the point okay?" I asked trying to sound nice.

"Okay, so it wasn't what you were thinking either. I saw Fulton with this guy and asked him if he could pass my number along to the guy." She finished and something clicked in my head.

"You like Dean Portman?" I asked, really confused now.

"Is that his name?" Madison asked. I was little repulsed,

"He's an idiot..."

"Well, my brother ain't no Albert Einstein." She joked.

"So what does this have to do this me?" I asked, hoping I didn't have to spend time with Dean.

"I figured, when I saw you with Fulton that there was a past, so I listened in and judging by your actions, I'm pretty sure you're friends with that crowd..." She laughed a little. I rolled my eyes,

"What do you want me to do?" I said still looking away.

"Nothing much, just bring me to some of the peewee hockey practices."

"Madison!" I was shocked, that would mean I'd have to spend more time with Fulton.

"Well, it's up to you, I mean we could just forget this idea completely."

"NO...I'll do it." I said defeated.

"And you have to stay, during the practice. Oh, and I want one day where we go shopping where I want to go." She finished off.

"Fine." I shook my head.

"Good." and with that Madison walked away, a little bounce in her step. I sighed deeply,

"What did I get myself into?" I asked myself, going to find Scott.

"GET UP!!!" were the words I was woken up with the next day, as Madison jumped on my bed. I pulled the pillow over my head and rolled over to get away from her.

"Madison, please..." I groaned.

"No, you agreed, besides practice isn't until 5:30. I'm just coming to wake you up because Mom and Scott want to take you to look at a place for the wedding." I peeked out from under my pillow and stared up at her.

"Oh." I said climbing out of bed and heading straight into the closet to shut the door.

"Tammy." Madison said grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the closet.

"She's gonna take over my wedding, I know it." I said sitting down in a chair.

"No, it's fine. Connie and I will be there." Madison said and suddenly I felt like I had an ally in Madison until she hit me with the pillow to get my backside moving. I fell off the chair as she laughed, exiting the room. I was gonna get her eventually.

The day passed quickly and before I knew it I was pulled out of the house and to my car at a quarter after five. The arena was bare compared to at an event and the peewee hockey team was warming up on the ice as I made my way down the steps towards the box. Portman was taping some sticks and Fulton was doing a head count.

"Oh my god..." Madison said with a giggle, I'd never since her like this, I thought, silently as Fulton realized we were there.

"Oh, well, look what the cat dragged in." He joked as I sneered at him. Portman turned around and Madison nearly fainted,

"Get a grip." I mumbled under my breath, heading towards Fulton." I hope you're happy."

"Well, not as much with you here but thanks for asking."

"I mean, this." I motioned to me and Madison, who was now sitting behind Portman, just staring at him. "She saw us."

"Your problem, not mine." He said heading out onto the ice to start practice.

"Humph." I said before I kicked the wall, causing me to hold my foot. "When did they make these so hard?" I exclaimed, sitting next to Madison. She was in a trance, I swear and I just leaned back and prepared to sleep, that is until a certain blonde walked in and sat down across the benches. My attention was immediately peaked and Madison noticed it too,

"Who's that?" She asked.

"No one." I finally said after a minute of trying to recall her name, I just knew who she was to Fulton.

"You want to take her out back. It'd be real easy two on one but then again, you're a wimp." She laughed.

"I am not. I've kicked some butt in my days." She laughed harder,

"Whose? Your own?" I didn't even answer that as my gaze returned to the blonde.

"Okay, okay, I'll believe you kicked your own ass before." She joked.

"Are you trying to pick a fight?" I asked. Madison smiled a little.

"No, I just want to see you kick someone's ass is all." Her gaze returned to the ice.

"You have such a foul mouth." I shook my head,

"Like you've never swore."

"Look, we're here for the practice so just watch it and I'm gonna take a nap." I said leaning back on my elbows to the bench behind me. I found myself counting lights and praying that it would be over soon. I heard Fulton call the team over and I looked forward, the practice was ending.

"Finally." I thought to myself as Madison was out of her seat and up to the glass to talk to Portman.

"Hey, Dean is it?" She asked in the sweetest voice I'd ever hear her use.

"Um...yeah...do I know you?"

"No, I saw you last night. I'm a skater, like Tammy." Oh, God. She was using my name now. I sighed, heading for the car when I saw the blonde heading in Fulton's direction. I cut her off and was by the glass near Fulton.

"Fulton!" I said as he turned around a little,

"What can I do for you?" He asked still taking notes on his clipboard.

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that we're gonna be here every practice this week." I said casually. I saw the blonde start leaving up the steps out of the corner of my eye.

"That's nice but I know what you were doing there... I can talk to whoever I want..." He said finally looking up.

"I didn't say that you couldn't."

"You didn't need to." He said softly, glancing at Portman and Madison, who were now engaged in a conversation about Metallica.

"Look, I'm not trying to make your life hell, okay? If I don't do this Madison is gonna tell Scott about us." I said looking down.

"So whether you get married or not is up to me?" He smiled a little.

"Fulton, please." I started.

"I'm not gonna do anything."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, you two intend to be here every practice I'm putting you to work." He said heading out of the box.

"What do you mean?" I yelled after him. He just smiled and continued to walk away.

"I gotta go." Portman finally told Madison and he was running after Fulton towards the locker room.

"Oh my god, he is so sweet..." She smiled as I sighed,

"This is gonna be a long week."


	17. Chapter 16: Because I Love You

"Oh, my god... and the way he handled those kids." Madison's voice, I had decided, was the most annoying noise in the universe. She hadn't shut up about Portman since we left the arena two days before. I rubbed my forehead and tried to concentrate on getting us to the arena that night without reaching over and strangling her, which would then cause a car accident.

"He is just soooo cute."

"Maddie, can you give it a rest, please?" I asked, a little short with her. She sulked down in her seat,

"Why are you so grumpy today?" She asked as I shook my head a little,

"Nothing..." I lied. In reality I had gotten into a disagreement with Scott that morning about why I was spending so much time with Madison, going shopping lately. He was acting really weird lately.

_Flashback_

_"Tammy, you're going out again?" He asked, looking around as if there was nothing for him to do at my parents' house. I sighed,_

_"Yeah, Madison is looking for a certain clip for her hair at the wedding and I don't want it not to match so I need to go with her."_

_"What about me?" He asked with a face that could rival a 12-year-old girl. I had to stop myself from laughing, Scott had always gotten things his way and I had a feeling he had never been told no. I moved down the stairs feeling the guilt in my stomach._

_"Scott, I promise, this is just me until the wedding. After that, I'm all yours." I said trying to smile. Scott smiled,_

_"What am I supposed to do in the mean time?" He asked. I shrugged,_

_"Guy stuff?" I asked walking away. _

_"Guy stuff?" He questioned. "Like what?" _

_"I don't know. Watch some sports with Dad." I said retreating into the other room. _

_"I don't watch sports..." He said walking the opposite way. _

_End Flashback_

"Hello? Earth to Tammy?" Madison yelled bring me back to reality.

"What?" I asked almost missing the entrance to the arena. I took the sharp turn and Madison yelled, grabbing the door.

"What are you crazy?" She asked breathing heavy. I didn't even respond and parked, heading into the arena. I can only guess what Fulton had in mind to 'put us to work.'

Fulton and Portman were waiting as we entered the arena,

"Oh, right on time." Fulton said acting like he was having fun. I sighed, placing my hand on my hip to listen to him. He smiled,

"Already getting an attitude?" He questioned. I dropped my hand,

"Look, I can just leave."

"No, we agreed." Madison groaned, giving me the evil eye. I tightened my lips,

"Fine." I looked back at Fulton, who was still smiling,

"Here's your list of things to get done." He handed me a piece of paper and my lips pursed,

"No, Maddie, we're not doing this." She looked over the list and looked at me,

"It doesn't look that hard."

"Madison, my nails, the wedding is in three weeks, I can't ruin them now." I groaned. She took the list, looking it over,

_Things to do:_

_1) Tape all replacement sticks and sand._

_2) Mop all steps_

_3) Clean all benches_

_4) Clean out storage closet_

"Don't you have cleaning staff to do this stuff?" Madison asked, looking at Fulton.

"No, they were cut out of the budget to get new uniforms for the teams. Of course you two wouldn't know what it's like to have to make sacrifices." Fulton said looking more at me than her. I looked away.

"Of course you two can just leave if it's not your thing."

"No, we want to help." Madison piped in as I groaned. Fulton knew he had me backed into a corner because I had to do what Madison wanted.

"Good. Portman, show them where the cleaning stuff is." He said walking away. I stomped off,

"I know where it is!" I said pushing them out of my way.

"What's her deal?" Portman asked Madison as they walked in the direction I went.

"Oh, just some pent up frustration." She said linking arms with him.

"So how do you know Tammy?" He asked as they walked away.

An hour and half later, I was still not happy with the situation. I had gotten a splinter from one of the sticks, got attacked by every piece of sporting equipment item know to man when I opened the storage closet, and found at least 20 pieces of gum stuck under the benches. I decided to give them up and mop the stairs. I sighed, holding the mop with one hand and wiping my head with the other,

"I smell like mothballs." I commented to Madison, who was on the ground, scrubbing the step in front of me before I mopped it.

"It could be worse. They could have asked us to clean the bathrooms." She joked,

"Next time." Fulton chimed in from the ice. I sighed, turning my back to the ice. Who did he think he was to make us do this, so what if he could get us kicked out? Then Madison would be pissed at me and this whole thing would blow up. I kinda felt like I was juggling eggs and couldn't drop any. Each egg was another secret I was keeping from Scott and if they fell, I was out of the game. I sighed deeply,

"Just make it all go away." I groaned, Madison laughed a little,

"Are you always so self-pitying?" She asked.

"What?" I said turning around fast.

"You act like the world owes you something. God, has my brother really rubbed off on you that much? Is everything always about you?" She asked. I tightened my lips,

"I just don't think this whole situation is fair." I said turning again.

"Well, it's not fair to my brother...or Fulton." She said as I sulked, was I hurting Fulton? Was that why he was making us do this, because he was hurting? I asked myself, glancing in his direction, he glanced at me. His eyes stayed on me for a few seconds and then went back to the ice.

"Keep it moving." He yelled as the kids were doing skating drills. I looked down, going back to work on the stairs.

"I think you're full of it." I said moving past her and heading to another staircase.

"Suit yourself. You'll regret it later." Madison said, continuing to scrub.

I stood at the storage closet later that night and put away all the cleaning supplies before shutting the door and heading back to find Madison so we could get out of here. The hall was cleared and I walked slowly towards the arena. Maybe I was hurting Fulton but what was I supposed to do about it? I can't just dump Scott and go running back to Fulton. I could, but think of all the people that I'd hurt. No, it wasn't an option; I need to go through with this. I need to fulfill my obligations. Was that what Scott was now? An obligation? I took a deep breath, feeling the cold ice air hit my face again. I loved the ice, I loved to skate and Scott and I can do that together. Of course I can't skate forever, we'll have a family and a home and that will be my life. I have it all set out, so why doesn't it seem so perfect? I shrugged off the feeling and headed towards Madison, her hair could be seen from across the arena. As I got closer I saw she was kissing Dean Portman. I sighed, great another 4 hours here, I thought, sitting down to wait until she saw me and we could leave. I hugged myself a little as the ice chilled my skin.

"Hey." He said from behind me as I turned a little. The corner of my lips turned a little into a smile and he sat down.

"Look, I'm sorry. I know it was a cruel thing to do to make you do all that." He said as I didn't say anything, just stared at the ice.

"I must seem like such an ass right now but I just came over to tell you that you and Madison are welcome here anytime. I acted like a jerk and I'm sorry." He said walking away quick before I could say anything to him. I stood to follow him and Madison was at my side,

"Guess what?" She jumped up and down next to me. I turned, still distracted by Fulton's sudden change in heart towards me.

"What?" I asked.

"I have a date next Friday with Dean!" She yelled, grabbing me in a hug. I laughed a little and then backed up.

"That's a good thing?" I joked a little.

"Yes, it's a great thing and guess what?" She yelled.

"What? Don't you want to go?" I asked starting up the stairs.

"This means that we don't have to do this stuff anymore." She said heading passed me up the stairs.

"What you mean I don't have to bring you here for practices?" I asked a little let down. I was still wondering what was up with Fulton.

"Yeah, but you still owe me that shopping trip and I think we should go on Friday so I can find something to wear on this date!" She yelled exiting the arena. I laughed a little and followed her out.

It was a nice day, the following Friday as I tried to help Madison find something to wear on her date with Portman but my head was still trying to figure out that conversation with Fulton. What did that all mean? Was he admitting he did it to hurt me? Was he finally ready to accept my engagement? These questions were flying through my head as I drove towards the edge of town.

"What's that?" She asked, stopping at a sign hanging outside an old gate. 'Timeless Beauty Crafts' was the sign name as we pulled over and decided to walk in. There was a fair amount of cars in the driveway to a beautiful house. It was two stories high with two beautiful picture windows in the front and a wrap around porch leading to the lake out back. The porch was lined with chairs for sale, and that's when it hit me.

"This is my house." I said silently.

"Tammy? What's wrong?" She asked. Those chairs on the front porch were the same one's in Fulton's living room. The color left my face as I looked at the lake behind the house and everything just clicked, he built the house.

"I need to get out of here." I said turning to run.

"Tammy?" His voice was like the final nail in my coffin and I broke into a run.

"Tammy?" He yelled again, chasing after me. Madison just stood there not sure what to do. He caught me just before the gate and turned me to him,

"What is this Fulton, a joke? Are you trying to make this into some kind of love story?" I asked feeling the anger boiling in my veins.

"What? No, I made you a promise and I fulfilled it!" He yelled back. "I could never move in, so I made it my store." The tears were coming down my face.

"Why? Why did you do this? You should have just let the past die!" I yelled back at him.

"Because I love you!" He yelled grabbing my face. "I love you, Tammy." He whispered again. My tears filled my eyes again and I pushed past him,

"I have to go." I said walking quickly to my car. Madison ran after me and we drove home in silence.


	18. Chapter 17: Last Dance

The two weeks until the wedding passed quickly after my last meeting with Fulton Reed. It was best, I figured, to cut him out of my life completely rather than try to keep him as a friend. My eyes filled with tears as I sat in my window, looking at the people out on that bright spring day. Time was passing so fast and I couldn't stop it. Tomorrow I would be Mrs. Scott Evans and my life would be set in stone. No more wondering if this was the right or wrong thing, I'd come too far to turn back now. The idea was tossed from my mind when the door opened to my room.

"Heya!' Madison called, plopping down on my bed. I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks and tried to smile. She was growing on me over the past few weeks.

"Hey, everything alright down stairs?" I asked as they set up for the rehearsal dinner that evening.

"Oh, yeah, great. Mom's just fighting with Scott about the colors you choose and Scott's worried about the center-piece arrangements for tomorrow, it's a really jolly family gathering." She said sarcastically. I smiled a little, glancing back out the window as the caterer was arriving to go over tomorrow's menu.

"You can tell me what's really wrong, you know, I'm gonna be your sister tomorrow." I sighed,

"Maddie, I'm really not in the mood." I started but she cut me off like she usually did,

"Now, wait a minute. I've kept plenty of secrets for you and I just try to help you and you all of a sudden decide you're too good to talk to me?" She asked getting annoyed,

"You know I didn't mean it that way!" I snapped as she lay back down on the bed and moved the soft fabric between her hands.

"Tammy, I might be over stepping my bounds here but why is it you can't talk to Fulton about what happened two weeks ago?" She asked. I tensed up,

"Because." I tried to think of an excuse but came to the same conclusion every time, I was afraid.

"Well?" She asked as I hugged my knees to my chest.

"Because, I don't want to make it harder on him that it already has to be!" I said thinking fast. Madison looked at me with a face of contempt,

"Yeah, I'll believe that when Mom actually meets Dean and likes him..." I knew there not even a chance of that happening.

"Look, it doesn't matter anymore, I'm marrying Scott tomorrow." I said finally getting up to walk to my closet.

"It does if you're still in love with Fulton. I doubt my brother wants to marry someone who's in love with someone else." and with that she exited the room to leave me to my thoughts. Was I still in love with Fulton? I rubbed my head before glancing around the room; it was filled with memories of him. The closet still held things he'd left there 6 years earlier. The familiar blankets, he spent so many nights sleeping in lay at the back of the closet floor in a folded pile. The window still sat an inch above the rim incase he came to it in the dark of night. I closed my eyes to control the tears that threatened to escape. The past 6 years of my life seemed to be clouded in this fog of something I couldn't let go and I wondered if I was making a mistake that was gonna end up with everyone hurt in the end.

"Please let me be doing the right thing." I prayed, glancing in the closet. A red dress stood out to me from the pile and I pulled it out to look at it. It was the dress I had worn so many years ago to that dance. Another reminder? Or was it a sign? I quickly tossed it on the shelf above the closet and instead grabbed a navy dress from the back.

"This will do." I said softly to myself before changing into it. I glanced in the mirror and smoothed the dress as much as possible to my hips.

"It looks fine." I reassured myself before glancing back at the closet. "It won't fit... It was 6 years ago." I told myself, pulling the dress from the shelf above the closet. It was big when I worn it the last time and I had actually lost weight since then. Maybe? I thought quickly changing dresses and looking back in the mirror. It fit, surprisingly well. In that moment I felt like I was that thirteen years old again, waiting impatiently for Connie to finish her make-up so we could leave. Fulton was waiting. Before I could scold myself for thinking this there was a knock on the door and Connie peeked her head in,

"It's nearly time." She said softly, looking over my appearance.

"Wow!" She said with a smile, entering the room.

"I didn't think it would fit but it did." I said moving the straps on my shoulder.

"It doesn't even look like the same dress!" She smiled, "Of course the last time you wore it, you weren't built for it." She joked as I swatted her.

"It really looks okay?" I asked.

"It looks great, now lets get your hair done before we have to leave." She said as I sat down. I looked in the mirror at myself as Connie stood behind me.

"Connie, you do have any regrets?" I asked softly.

"No, I suppose I've done everything I intended to do. Well, except marry Guy but we're not ready for that yet." She smiled.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm too young for this." I admitted as she continued with my hair.

"It's probably just nerves." She tried to reassure me. Something still didn't feel right but I brushed it off and started to apply some make-up to my face.

The rehearsal at the church went well and everyone headed back to my house for dinner and a small reception at the local tavern. Most of the team was there for the party, Averman wished me good luck and handed me a card before he headed out. Jesse and Terry stopped by to give me congrats on the marriage and Goldberg came for the food of course. Charlie, Guy and Connie were chatting quietly in the corner having a drink as I looked for Scott but was instead met by an uneasy Fulton,

"Hey, Tammy. I know I shouldn't be here so I'll go, I just came by to give you this." He said handing me an envelope. I could feel the weight of something in the envelope and glanced in it to see a set of keys settled next to a card of Congratulations.

"Fulton, I..."

"No, it's okay, I built it for you so you should have it. I just want you to be happy." He said looking down. I glanced back at the keys,

"What about your shop?" I asked softly.

"I managed to save up enough to rent some space on Main Street so I'll open up there." He said running his fingers through his hair. I caught Madison and Portman staring at us from behind him. I didn't know what to say,

"Fulton, I still don't know how you did it, I mean build that house and get the land and everything. You're only 20, you couldn't have saved for it." I said silently.

"My Father died a couple years after you left. Heart attack, imagine that? He had a lot of money in places my mom and I didn't know about. It was enough to buy the land and my Mother said she wanted me to be happy so we bought it. I had some friends from work help me and we spend 2 years building that place with what I could scrap together from selling my furniture. It was all I thought about." He said softly. My eyes wanted to cry as I looked at this man who loved me with all his heart and I was stomping on it.

"Fulton..."

"No, Tammy, you take it. I built it for you and I don't think I can be there anymore." He said turning to walk away.

"Fulton, wait." I said as he turned around, "Thank you for loving me." I said softly, "Will you dance with me one last time?" I asked. His face softened and he took my hand, leading me to the dance floor where other people were dancing. A new song was starting and I closed my eyes as he enveloped me in his strong embrace.

See, baby I, apologize  
For all the things that I've done that I've done  
See I've known that I've been a fool for far too long  
And baby you have it, I go around to wait, just come back to me  
Please baby, baby won't you stay  
If you really love me then why are you leavin' me

The words washed over me and I rested my head on his shoulder, looking away from his face. Was this feeling of completeness an illusion every time I got within 10 feet of Fulton Reed. Could I ever be this happy with Scott? Would I ever feel this loved? I turned my face to look at his and I felt everything he felt for me in his eyes.

I can't think, think about this crazy day  
I lose sleep just to daydream about you babyyyyyyyy  
I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, just to thinkin' about you lately  
I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, just to thinkin' about you baby  
I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, thinkin about you lately  
I'm going crazy, crazy, (crazy, crazy) when I can't touch you  
Crazy, crazy (I'm going crazy) when I can't hold you  
Crazy, crazy, (I'm going crazy) when I can't see you again  
(Said I'm going crazy)

I touched his cheek lightly with the tips of my fingers and tried to sort my feelings for this man in front of me. He looked down at me with a longing I'd never seen him express.

I've finally realized, that you are my true love  
And I had a lot of time to think, and you're all seem to keep thinking,  
To keep thinkin of, yeahhh  
And now I know I need you each and every day  
I can't live without you, so don't run away  
Baby you say that you love me, so why'd you leave me, why

"I'm so sorry for the past few weeks." I started but he silenced me,

"It was both of us...at least I got to see you again...we won't be wondering in the future what might have been." He said softly, taking my hand in his and moving a little around the floor.

I can't think, think about this crazy day  
I lose sleep just to daydream about you baby  
I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, just thinkin about you lately  
I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, just thinkin about you baby  
I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, thinkin about you lately  
I'm going crazy, crazy, (crazy, crazy) when I can't touch you  
Crazy, crazy (crazy, crazy), when I can't hold you  
Crazy, crazy, when I can see again

The song was ending and I felt like a piece of me was ending with it.

"Fulton... I..." I started but Scott was at my side at that moment.

"Tammy, I was looking for you." He smiled

If I can see you, if I can see you again  
Then I would go, if I could see you again  
I'd go crazeee

"I'm sorry, I was talking with Fulton. You remember him don't you?" I asked.

"From the arena, yes, good to see you again."

"I was just leaving." Fulton said handing my hand to Scott's "I wish you all the happiness, Tammy." He whispered to me before he left the dance floor.

"Shall we?" Scott's voice interrupted as I followed Fulton with my eyes.

"Sure." I said softly. Scott led me back to the dance floor but my heart was leaving with Fulton.


	19. Chapter 18: Giving Into Temptation

The full moon was out and shining in on my skin. Taking a deep breath I moved my knees closer to my chest and leaned on them, contemplating my future. It just 12 hours I would really have no way back. The battle would be over and Scott would win. My mind was telling me it was the right thing to do, go through with this wedding and let Fulton have a chance at a normal life.

"He just thinks he loves me." I thought out loud, "It was just a childhood crush that he can't let go of." Then why did he look at me that way tonight? I did miss him when I was gone and even when I should have been set to a competition my mind was always falling back to him. Why was my heart always betraying what my mind told it to do?

"How could he build the house?" I thought looking at the keys sitting on my desk.

"Didn't he realize I'd moved on?" The keys shone as a ray of moonlight hit them and I stared at them for ten minutes before grabbing them and changing quickly, I headed for my car.

The road was dark as my eyes were blurred with tears. I almost missed the old gateway, leading to the long driveway and I cut it fast. Pulling in, the lake reflected the moonlight, causing the house to be illuminated like out of a dream. I turned my headlights off and parked in front of the house and sat there staring at it, the second time I'd laid eyes on it.

"Oh, Fulton..." I gasped, it was the exact of the picture I drew so many years ago. I look up at the sky, hearing a rumble of thunder from above and quickly decided to move towards the house. The rain started slow and then the sky just opened up in a flood. I ran for the porch, shaking off the rain from my hair and looked down at my hand, the keys dangling from my fingers,

"It is my house." I thought silently and I stepped towards the door. My hand shook as the lock unlocked in my hand, the soft click beckoning for me to open the door. I opened the door stepping inside to the warmth of a fire burning. He sat there looking to be lost in his own thoughts before the click of my heels on the hard wood awoke him. He stood up quickly, looking me over.

"Tammy...I..."

"Fulton...I don't know what to say...it's beautiful." I said looking around.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in surprise. "That was a stupid question, it's your house now." I looked around, searching for the answer,

"I don't know, I couldn't sleep and I just ended up here..." I said confused. "I can't believe you built this for me..." I said still shocked from seeing the house.

"I loved you...I still do." He said stepping from foot to foot, nervously.

"I'm so sorry, Fulton..." I said not knowing what else to say.

"Don't be...we had something that I don't think I'll ever find again." He said beginning to collect his coat, leaving some blankets on the floor. It looked like he had been camped out here for the last two weeks.

"Where are you going?" I asked confused.

"This is your house now...I just came back to say goodbye." He said putting his coat on.

"Goodbye to the house or goodbye to me?" I asked, blocking his way, my eyes were tearing up. He immediately wiped the tears from my cheeks as they began to fall.

"Don't cry, Tammy...you're too beautiful to cry." He said as I felt a few more tears fall.

"I'm just making you upset. I should go." He said heading past me. I felt like my heart dropped into my stomach as I turned fast, following him out of the open door.

"Fulton!" I cried out in the rain. He turned, looking at me though the rain.

"It never really ended, did it?" I asked my tears masked by the rain.

"Not for me. I always hoped you come back eventually. I waited 6 years..." He said softly. My face felt hot as I let out a cry. He slowly lifted his hand to my face and pushed the hair behind my ear. The rain hit us like ice, as that moment stretched on into minutes, neither one of us knowing what to say.

"God, Tammy, I missed you so much. It felt like part of me was missing." He said rubbing my cheek.

"Fulton...please don't hate me." I said tears still falling. He laughed a little,

"I could never hate you." He said looking into my eyes "I loved you when you left and I'll still love you as you walk down that aisle tomorrow."

I tried to smile but just felt my heart breaking,

"I'm so confused..." I said moving into his embrace more. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me as I cried into his jacket.

"Just do what makes you happy." He said stroking my hair.

"I don't know anything, I shouldn't have come here, I'm gonna end up ruining everything." I said, pulling my keys from my pocket and heading for my car before he could respond.

"If the only reason you're doing this is because you feel some duty to this guy or that you don't want anybody to get hurt. You're going about it the wrong way. You're gonna regret it for the rest of your life." He said. I turned to look at him as I reached my car. He had tears forming as he stepped closer to me.

"You think about how Scott will feel all the time but do you never wonder how I'm feeling, Tammy? You're hurting me...can you feel my heart breaking?" He asked as he placed my hand on his chest. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying. "I've poured my heart and soul into loving you. I'm sorry, that's all I have. I can't buy you everything. All I can offer you is love and the promise that you'll never doubt that love. I built this house out of that love!" He said as I turned from him. "It will never be enough though, it will always fall just short, huh, Tammy? I'm never gonna be good enough. Good enough for you, good enough for your parents?" He asked

"Don't bring them into this! They aren't making these decisions for me!" I yelled turning back to him.

"No, but it matters what they think!" He said as I didn't say anything.

"I love you... but I can only take so much. I'm through with your games." He said turning to walk away.

"Goodbye, Tammy Duncan." He said heading for the woods. I huffed and got in my car, turning over the engine. The radio came on,

_Baby, when you touch me, I can feel how much you love me_

_It just blows me away._

_I've never been this close to anyone or anything._

_I can hear your thoughts; I can see your dreams_

_I don't know how you do what you,_

_Baby I'm amazed by you..._

My eyes welled up with tears hearing the familiar song playing. I could still see Fulton's back through the rain my wipers were clearing away every 3 seconds. I felt my heart ache in my chest. I loved him, I thought biting my lower lip. I really loved him.

_The smell of your skin, the taste of your kiss_

_The way you whisper in the dark_

My memories came flooding back to me and I banged the steering wheel, getting out fast.

"Damn it!' I said jumping out. I've been so stupid!

_I wanna spend my whole night in your eyes_

I slammed the car door, running after Fulton

"Fulton!" I yelled running towards him. He stopped and turned to me as the rain was pouring down on him. The tears were streaming down my face as I ran to him, reaching for him. There in the rain, I pulled him to me, kissing him with all the emotion I'd been trying to hide.

"I can't let you go, not knowing that I love you too. I always have..." I said as he grabbed me again, kissing me. I pulled him back towards the house, out of the rain. He grabbed the back of my head pulling me closer with such passion I thought my head was gonna explode. Our rain drenched bodies met and a shock of electricity was sent through my body. I never wanted to let go of him again as I pushed his coat off and reached for the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his head. Our eyes stayed locked on each other as we met again in another feverous kiss, still with the same amount of passion, telling the other everything we couldn't say. He ran his hands over my wet shirt, smoothing it to my body. I lowered my eyes and my lips trailed to his neck, a soft groan escaping his lips.

"Tammy…" He whispered pulling my mouth back to his as he lifted me so my legs went around his waist and he kissed my neck. I moaned slightly enjoying the feelings it was stirring inside of me.

"Fulton. I..." I started, as he already knew what I was going to say, leading us back to the blanket in the living room, in front of the fire. He laid me down gently, towering above me to fumble with my shirt. I was slightly embarrassed as he looked at my body. The moonlight and light from the fire masked my imperfections as he leaned down, kissing the side of my chin,

"You're beautiful." He whispered as I pulled him to me, "Don't leave me again." He whispered.

"Never...I love you." I said, as I was lost in the feeling of his kisses on my skin. He stared down into my eyes.

"I love you too, Tammy." He said before kissing me. It was the gentlest kiss I've ever felt. His hands caressed my skin as the moonlight shone over the rain pouring into the open door.


	20. Chapter 19: The Wedding

The sunlight poured into the large picture window in the living room as I rolled over in the mess of linen sheets. The fire had burnt itself out in the fireplace and I sunk down into the warmth of the blankets, feeling for Fulton. The space next to me once occupied by him was empty and the pillow was cool to the touch. I opened my eyes slowly and closed them from the sun light before opening my right eye first and then the other, adjusting to the sunlight.

"Fulton?" I asked feeling the floor next to me empty. Holding the blanket to my chest I sat up looking around. They house was completely empty.

"Fulton..." I called out again. I looked back at the pillow and found an envelope sitting on it. My hands started to shake as I reached for it, opening it slowly. The keys to the house fell out first and then a note. The tears were forming in my eyes as I unfolded the note to read it.

"Tammy, all I ever wanted was for you to be happy. I couldn't sleep last night with you sleeping next to me because I was wondering if this was what your really want. It's okay for you to follow your heart. For once have the power to make your own decision and don't let it be dictated by me or your Mother or even Scott. You deserve that. I won't blame you for the decision you make and I hope we can still be something to each other. I couldn't live with myself if I, in anyway, hurt you or caused you to regret last night. I guess part of me will always love you, whether I choose to or not. I don't know if words can ever describe how you make me feel, last night was no exception. Please just don't regret last night, whatever decision you make, what we shared was real and don't ever doubt that. I'll be at the diner - I'm sorry I can't come to the wedding - if that's what you choose. I love you...Fulton." I read in my mind as the tears formed in my eyes. I folded the letter sighing and holding it to my chest. A car door brought me back to reality and then another.

"Tammy!" I heard Connie's voice from the front door. I wrapped the blanket around me, heading to the door.

"Tammy, open up!" Madison's voice now filled the air. I sighed as I opened the door. Connie and Madison stood in the doorway and stared at me.

"Oh my god..." Connie said softly, knowing what happened the night before. Madison smirked a little,

"Somebody got busy last night." She joked as Connie hit her hard in the arm. "Thanks, I'll have a bruise the size of Nevada on my arm now!" She yelled as Connie sneered at her. She was just about to say something when I opened the door farther for them to come in.

"Where is he?" Connie scolded. I handed her the letter sitting down on the floor to collect my clothes. She mulled over it and looked at me,

"Tammy, what are you gonna do?" She asked looking down at her maid of honor dress that she was wearing. I bit my lip and shrugged before bursting into tears.

"Oh, honey..." She said sitting down with me. At first she wasn't sure if she should sit in the dress and I looked at her,

"Just sit down!" Madison yelled as I cried, confused as ever. She kneeled to hug me,

"I'm sorry..." Madison said not knowing what to say. I looked at the house,

"I get to keep the house...but it won't be the same without him..." I joked and cried at the same time as Connie rubbed my shoulder.

"Your know your car is running in the driveway?" Madison asked getting me to smile.

"I have your dress in the car, if you still want to go through with this." Connie said not wanting to push me to make a decision.

"She just had sex with her ex-boyfriend, I don't think this is the time to be contemplating marriage to another man!" Madison yelled as they got into a fight, swinging over my head. I sighed,

"I need a shower..." I said wiping at my face. They stopped fighting and looked at me.

"So what are we doing?" Madison asked confused. Connie looked on too.

"I'm gonna make my decision." I said standing in the blanket and making my way to the bathroom.

"Do you want your dress?" Connie called after me.

"I guess." I moaned, feeling the water wash over me as soon as I stepped into the shower.

"Don't push her." Madison said from outside the door.

"Shut up, she's my best friend." Connie said heated.

"Do you want to force her to make the wrong decision?" Madison asked, as there was a silence.

"Here's your dress and stuff..." Connie said handing them around the door to me a few minutes later.

"Thanks." I said looking in the mirror.

"So what are we doing?" Madison yelled again.

"I need to stop at my house." I said staring into the mirror.

The air in the house was cold; the air conditioner had been left on once everyone exited the house. I sighed deeply, holding up my simple white silk dress as I headed up the stairs.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Madison questioned as she blocked Connie from going up the stairs.

"No, I need a minute." I said staring at the closed door. They nodded a little and sat down on the steps, pushing each other a little. The door sat closed with a peek of sunlight coming from the crack underneath. I reached the door handle and took a deep breathe before swinging it open. The green walls seemed dull to the sunlight coming in the window across the room. My eyes felt tears brimming on my eyelids.

"I have to do this." I thought, closing the door slowly and sitting on the bed.

"Tommy, I know we never got along but you were my kid brother. I loved you." I said biting my lip from letting the tears flow, "I need some advice... I've make some mistakes since you..." I tried to find a word I could live with "...went. I just don't want my life to be mother, wife, and whatever I can still do after that. Scott wants a family and he's been with me through everything. But Fulton…god, I love Fulton." I smiled to myself, "You know I love Fulton." I looked around at the poster and guy stuff that decorated the walls and laughed, remembering all the good times we had together. My eyes fixed on the Ducks jersey lying on the chair and I felt Tommy's answer.

"I'm finally home, little brother...I'm not gonna leave you again." I whispered before getting up and walking towards the door. I stopped in the doorway and looked back.

"Thanks." I said heading down the stairs,

"Did you figure it out?"

"Yeah, we have to go to the church." I said breezing passed them to the door.

We left the house in Connie's Eclipse and pulled up to the church. My Mother and Father came rushing out,

"Where were you?" They asked worried,

"I'm fine...I just needed some time." I said taking my Father's hand.

"Well, Scott's waiting." He said as my Mother and Connie went first, heading into the church, as the ceremony was ready to start. Madison was halfway down the aisle before we entered. My Mother went first and then Connie. When we reached the door to start the walk down the aisle. I felt like I was gonna be sick. This was right.

"Are you okay?" My Father asked.

"I'm fine." I said holding my head high and beginning to walk down the aisle. As we walked I started to remember the night before, the way Fulton held me, the way we made love. All I could see was his face. I looked at my Father and then at Scott as we reached the altar. I felt my face heat up and my makeup begin to run.

"Scott..." I started as the minister started the ceremony. He looked at me.

"I'm sorry..." I said before I turned to the minister,

"I'm sorry, please stop..." I said as Scott looked at me worried.

"Scott, I can't marry you..." I said as he looked at me shocked.

"Yes." Madison hissed behind me.

"Tammy, what...I don't understand..." He said.

"I don't want to get married now." I said as he sighed,

"Oh thank god. But you still love me?" He asked going to take my hand.

"No, Scott. I can't marry you. Ever." I said as his face dropped. "It's not you. It's just... I only have a few good years as a skater and I don't want to spend them pregnant and married. I love skating...we shared that...that's all we really share." I said as he tried to talk,

"No, Scott...I'm sorry...I don't love you. Not in that way at least. I admire you as a mentor and a friend but not as a husband." I said as he finally shook his head.

Connie smirked a little as Madison shook her head in agreement.

"Is this want you really want?" He asked as I thought about this.

"Yeah." I said confident, "For the first time, it is what I want." I said with a slight smile.

"Okay, I just want you to be happy." He said as I smiled, kissing him on the cheek and glancing at Connie and Madison before heading back down the aisle and out the door. They followed close behind to the protest of Madison's Mother.

"How dare she..."

"Shut up, Mother!" Madison yelled running after me.

Fulton sat at a table in the diner with Guy, Portman and Banks. He had just finished telling them about last night, now that he was almost sure I wasn't coming.

"Fulton, just give her a chance." Banks said as Fulton stood and walked to the counter to get the check. Guy sighed leaning back,

"Connie called me and said she was going to probably go through with it." He said as Banks nodded,

"So, she made her decision." He said as Guy saw Connie come in the door. He perked up and nodded at Banks, who looked with a smile. Madison bumped into her as they started to bicker and Portman smiled at her. He stood, taking her in his arms with a kiss on the forehead. I came in after her, pulling my veil in from getting caught in the door. They didn't say anything as Fulton was faced away from me at the counter. I walked up to him slowly, trying to figure out what I was gonna say.

"Fulton..." I said touching his shoulder. He froze at my voice, trying to figure out if it was real or not. When I touched his shoulder he tensed.

"Tammy?" He asked, beginning to turn. The tears were coming down my face now as he turned looking at me.

"I thought you..." He started but I quieted him with a kiss.

"I couldn't do it...I love you...I can't imagine living in that house without you. Why did you leave this morning?" I asked as he smiled,

"I wanted to make sure this is what you wanted."

"I do."

"You sure?" He asked.

"I've never been this certain..." I said as he picked me up and kissed me.

"I love you too, Tammy." He said putting me down. I noticed people looking at me; I was in my wedding dress after all. Connie, Guy, Portman, Madison and Banks were cheering. I blushed,

"So you wanna get married?" I asked.

"What a shame to let that cake go to waste." He joked as I kissed him again.

"True, but let's wait a while, okay? We'll send the cake to Goldberg." I said as he smiled,

"As long as I get to be with you, I don't care." He said kissing me again.

"Good." I said touching his cheek softly.

"I think we should still use the honeymoon, though." Fulton laughed. I smiled,

"It can be arranged."

"Good, because we have a lot of catching up to do." He smiled, kissing me tenderly on the lips.


End file.
